Team Drive: A Quest for Glory and Romance
by Sora532
Summary: A Charmander finds himself in a new world and meets up with a new ally to try to figure out who he once was but as time goes on Chikorita starts feeling something more? What's going to happen?
1. A New Day is Dawning

**Hey guys, I'm a new writer here and this is my very first story so if you've got ideas or suggestions on how I can make this better, please either tell me in a review or PM me. **

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon or any of its characters.

Chapter 1: Let the adventure begin

There was a small island and to the coast of this island is town that is famously known as Treasure Town, where many Pokemon lived happily. A storm that was coming and that cause everyone in town to stay awake even though they were ready to go to sleep.

So did Chikorita. Chikorita was a small, young plant-like Pokemon. Green skin, red eyes with white pupils and hand a large leaf on top of its head.

She was a real coward. Literally anything would scare the heck out of her, even if it were just a drop of water if it took her by surprise. She had a hard time talking about her problems mainly because she had no one to talk to and she just couldn't bring herself to talk about it. She desired a type of motivation, someone who could possibly help her build up courage and drive.

Every time lightning flashed or thunder clapped, she would cry out in sheer terror.

Chikorita lived in a bluff overlooking the sea. The bluff was called Sharpedo Bluff because it looked like a Sharpedo, a shark-like Pokemon with sharp teeth.

The next morning, Chikorita decided to take a walk through treasure town and then suddenly out of impulse she decided to join Wigglytuff's Guild. She didn't know why but she thought it would help her build up courage.

So she went and stood on the grate that in front of the entrance.

"Pokemon detected, Pokemon detected"

"What's the Footprint"?

"Aw she ran away again?"

"It must Chikorita again"

Chikorita was running from the guild as fast as she could.

"_That was scary_," she thought sadly as she walked more slowly and headed towards the beach.

It was a nice beach where the Krabby and sometimes Kingler (both are crab-like Pokemon). They loved to stay on the beach in the sunshine and during the sunsets they would blow their bubbles in the air. It was a beautiful and romantic sight to see.

Chikorita looked out at the sea with her eyes sparkling at the beauty of the sight in front of her. She was so distracted at the sight that she wasn't looking where she was going and she tripped over something that lay in the sand.

"What's that?" she wondered out loud. She got up and looked at the place where she tripped and much to her surprise laid an unconscious being right before her. It was a Charmander, a fire type Pokemon. Charmander mostly represented a mix of a bipedal salamander along with some dinosaur characteristics. Its most notable feature was the flame that was burning at the tip of its tail. It has been said that if the flame on the tip of its tail went out it will die.

Chikorita stared at the Charmander in silence. She wasn't sure what to do, she was worried about the Charmander that didn't do anything but lie there unconscious. On the other hand, she was afraid of what might happen if she woke the creature up.

She decided to push her fears away for now and nudged the Charmander with her paw. She retreated a few feet but the Charmander didn't stir. She tried again and this time the Charmander gave a tired groan and stood up.

"Where… am I?" The Charmander said out loud. Judging by the tone of voice Chikorita knew it was a boy.

"So you finally woke up," Chikorita said shyly.

"Oh my god!!!" He said stunned. "How is it possible, a talking Pokemon? I thought Pokemon could only say their names over and over again!"

"Of course we can talk," Chikorita said looking utterly confused about what this guy was talking about. "What kind of weird Pokemon are you," she asked.

"Huh, I am NOT a Pokemon!" The Charmander yelled as though Chikorita mortally offended him. "I'm a human!"

"Really?" Chikorita said tilting her head to the side and walked around him, "but in every way I look at you, you look just like a normal Charmander," she concluded.

Charmander checked himself out and screamed, Chikorita giggled at Charmander's reaction because he sounded like a little girl. "I-It's true, I've turned into a Charmander," He said looking surprised. "_But why can't I remember anything from before I became a Pokemon," _Charmander thought.

Chikorita expected him to run around and go crazy but got the opposite reaction.

"Awesome, I'm a Charmander now! Can I use Flamethrower too?" he asked eagerly to a completely surprised Chikorita.

"I guess so," she replied uncertainly.

Charmander opened his mouth and a huge beam of fire came out, "Okay, THAT'S THE COOLEST THING EVER!!!!!" he yelled out excited that he could use such and attack.

"Who are you by the way," She finally asked him.

"Huh? Who am I?" "My name's uhhh uuuuhhh…." _"That's weird, why can't I remember my own name?"_ He thought.

"You forgot your own name?" Chikorita asked looking close to laughter.

"I guess so," Charmander said scratching the back of his head and looking kind of sheepish. "Well anyway, my name's Chikorita it's a pleasure to meet you" she said offering a paw to which Charmander shook quite enthusiastically and made Chikorita blush slightly.

"Why the heck are you blushing," Charmander asked staring at her. "It's j-j-just that…" she stuttered trying to avoid Charmander's gaze. "Hehehe… you look kind of funny when you blush like that," He said with a light snicker.

"Please…don't" she said looking embarrassed. "Why not, its fun," Charmander said in a teasing manner. "Anyway, I don't know who the heck I am or where the heck I came from in the first place," he said.

"That's kind of weird," said Chikorita, the blush disappearing.

Suddenly Chikorita was hit from behind and landed in Charmander's arms and a small rock with a weird pattern on it landed on the ground.

The Pokemon that hit her was a mean looking Koffing. Koffing was a poison gas Pokemon at was a floating purple ball that had a pirate symbol under the face. Its partner was a Zubat. Zubat was a bat Pokemon but was blue.

"Well, well, well, what do we have here? It's the resident chicken," said Zubat sneering.

"You again!" Chikorita yelled with tears with her eyes.

"Hey, what's that?" said Koffing gesturing towards the object on the ground.

"Hmmm, looks valuable I think we should sell it," Zubat declared.

"Hey give that back," Charmander said entering the conflict.

"Hey, looks like you finally found a boyfriend," sneered Koffing.

"I just met him here," Chikorita said angrily.

"Now we take our leave, later chicken," said Zubat and they both headed for Beach Cave with Chikorita's item.

"Ugh, there's no way that I can get my Relic Fragment back myself," she said to herself.

"Hey Charmander, would you help me get my Relic Fragment back from those bullies?" Chikorita asked with tears in her eyes.

"Even though I lost my memory, I still can't stand bullies, yeah I'll help come on we better get going," he said as they ran for Beach Cave.

As they explored the cave they fought and defeated the enemies that were inside. This made Chikorita feel a little bit more confident as they went further. The duo finally made it to the pit of the cave and they found Zubat and Koffing floating there.

"About time you made a move to get it back," they both taunted.

"That's enough," Charmander declared as he fired a flamethrower at Zubat. Zubat who was surprised by the attack got hit and was a direct hit. It knocked out Zubat in one hit.

Chikorita deciding to be brave for once fired her razor leaf at Koffing. Unfortunately for her, it didn't do as much damage so she followed with a tackle why Koffing was stunned.

"We did it," Chikorita cheered as she ran to grab the Relic Fragment out of Koffing possession.

"Come on, let's get out of here," Charmander said to the clearly happy Chikorita.

"OK," she agreed and they left the cave and headed back to the beach.

"Charmander, thanks so much for helping me get my Relic Fragment back, it's my personal treasure," she said showing her special treasure to him. "I know it may look like a piece of junk but look at inscription on it," she pointed it out to him. "I think that it has some important meaning to it and that is why I want to form an exploration team with someone but I've been too scared to register, so Charmander I was wondering I saw how you defeated them with ease so I was wondering, would you form an exploration team with me?"

"_Huh! I'm being recruited to an exploration team out of the blue," _he thought to himself. _"Then again I don't really have anything to lose by doing this, and I don't think that Chikorita is trying to trick me and I don't have anywhere else to go," _he thought to himself. "I- I want to find out who I was before I lost my memories so yeah, I'll join you're exploration team Chikorita," Charmander said smiling at her.

"Really? You will? Yay, Oh thank you so much," She said gratefully.

"Come on," Charmander said excitedly and ran off towards the guild then realizing that he didn't know where it was, asked Chikorita who fell anime style and sweatdropped afterward and she led him towards the guild.

**I hope you like my first chapter. Please read and review. It'll give me an incentive to keep this story alive. **


	2. Guild Initiation

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters.

Chapter 2

As the duo made their way to guild Chikorita leading and Charmander following, Charmander started breathing heavily.

"Keep up will ya," Chikorita said looking rather impatiently at Charmander for him to keep up.

"It's not my fault," he whined. "I'm not used to walking or running with these short legs yet," he said.

"Get a hold of yourself," said Chikorita looking really excited now. "We're almost at the guild where we can register and become an exploration team as well.

After a little bit a few more stairs they finally made it to Wigglytuff's Guild.

"So this is the guild, huh?" Charmander asked Chikorita.

"Yeah, we're going to start work here so we can get experience we need to become a proper exploration team," Chikorita said as they approached the gate to see it closed. She noticed the grate on the ground and new that she had to stand on it for access.

"Pokemon detected, Pokemon detected"

"What's the Footprint"?

"The footprint is Chikorita, The footprint is Chikorita,"

"No I won't run away this time," she said to herself. "I've got Charmander with me this time so there's no need to worry," she tried to reassure herself.

"Well you may go in," said a voice "Someone else is with you get them to stand on top of the grate,"

"I guess they want you to do it too, Charmander," Chikorita said.

Charmander crossed his arms and walked over to the grate and waited for something to happen.

"Pokemon detected, Pokemon detected"

"What's the Footprint"?

"The footprint is… maybe Charmander? Maybe Charmander??"

"What!! Maybe?!"

"Hey I don't know what I don't know so back off," the two begin to argue as Charmander and Chikorita sweatdropped at the argument.

"Well I guess it's true that you DON'T see many Charmander around these parts" said the voice "But you don't SEEM to be dangerous so you can go into the guild," he said.

The duo sighed in relief as they proceeded into the guild and climbed down the ladder and ended up in the main area of the guild.

"Wow," Charmander said amazed.

"This is amazing," Chikorita said with her eyes sparkling "this place is filled with Pokemon". They were on a floor that was about twice the size of the entrance floor. A lot of Pokemon were talking to each other, or studying the boards on the wall. "Maybe, these are the bulletin-boards", Chikorita guessed. "They sure are," a Pidgey replied.

Pidgey resembled a small, plump-bodied bird. It had a brown color, with a lighter colored throat and belly. The tips of its wings shared this cream color. Both its feet and beak were a pinkish-gray color. It also had black markings around its eyes and a small crest of brown and cream feathers above its eyes.

"You can take missions from here", Pidgey explained, "just have a look at it, and choose the job you want to do. Then, go to the destination and… well, do your job". "Sounds interesting", Charmander said, "but what kind of jobs are there?" "Well, for example, there are jobs, that require you to rescue a lost Pokemon, find a lost item, or capture an outlaw. There are much more jobs, but you will get to know each kind, when you progress as a team". "Thank you", Charmander said to Pidgey and followed Chikorita to the ladder that lead down when suddenly…

"Hello there," said a voice and the duo saw a bird with a song note on his head. "I'm guessing that you two were the ones that just came in, right?" Well my name's Chatot and I am the head of intelligence for this guild." "Well go on shoo we have no time for surveys or any other useless junk," he said.

"Wait you don't understand," Chikorita said hastily.

"What?" said Chatot.

"We came so we could get some training to become a proper exploration team," said Chikorita.

"Wow, it's really rare to see kids what to become apprentices at the guild, the steady stream of Pokemon that flee from the difficulty of our training," he muttered to himself.

"Excuse me, is the training here really that harsh?" Chikorita asked having overheard what Chatot had mumbled to himself.

"What! NO, no, no, our training for exploration teams is as easy as can be," Chatot said and both Chikorita and Charmander just sweatdropped at that. " I wish would have told me up front that you wanted to become an exploration team," Chatot said cheerfully.

The duo just sweatdropped and Chikorita muttered "What a change in attitude,"

"Ok, let's get your team registered, follow me please," Chatot said.

They both obediently followed him down another ladder that revealed a lower level.

"This is the underground level, here is where the apprentices stay and get their work, team registration is right through there," he said pointing at a door at the far side of the floor.

"Wow, even though we're underground we can still see outside," Chikorita said happily.

"Of course you can see outside," said Chatot impatiently and then said "The guild is built off the side of a cliff so it's only natural that you can see outside," he said. "Now follow me," he said opening the door.

"Guildmaster it's me, Chatot, we have two new Pokemon who wish to apprentice here at the guild," said Chatot. "Uh Guildmaster? Guildmaster?" Then suddenly he turns around and said, "So you two want to join the guild huh, no problem, but first I have to register you under a team name, so what do you want it to be?" he asked them smiling.

"Uhhh…" Chikorita thought.

"How about Team Drive," Charmander suggested.

"Hmm Team Drive, it has a nice ring to it and it also involves determination, it's perfect for us," Chikorita declared smiling at Charmander

Wigglytuff nodded in approval and then fired a hyper voice attack at the duo.

"Eeyaah," they yelled covering their faces with their arms and then the hyper voice stopped and Wigglytuff gave them an exploration team kit.

"What is this," Charmander asked staring at the package.

"It's an exploration team kit, it has all sorts of useful things in here like an exploration team badge, proof that you are an exploration team, a treasure bag that can hold your items, and a wonder map," said Wigglytuff.

"Wow this is so cool," said Chikorita, taking the map and putting it in the treasure bag and Charmander took the badge.

"This is your room," he said gesturing to the two makeshift beds made out of hay and straw. He then noticed apprehensive looks from Charmander and Chikorita; he already knew their problem and grinned Charmander was a male and Chikorita was a female. A boy and a girl in one room, wouldn't that be weird? "No need to worry about that," he said cheerful and Charmander and Chikorita exchanged a glance and decided to go to sleep.

"We should probably get some sleep because we're going to need to be awake early tomorrow," Charmander said trying to break the tension. Chikorita nodded her agreement and went to her bed a quickly fell asleep. Charmander did the same and also fell asleep.

They knew that some intense jobs lie in their futures and their meeting seemed to be fated to one of them.


	3. The First Task

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon or any of its characters.**

Chapter 3:

"WAKE UP!" A voice yelled. "WAKE THE HECK UP!" He yelled again looking incredibly irritated. Chikorita gasped, as she quickly got out of bed and Charmander was already awake.

"YOU will be LATE for the morning briefing," said Loudred and left the room. Loudred was a blue Pokemon with a "boxy" figure and had two ears perched on stalks. He had a big mouth (literally) and yellow lips with his front teeth showing and a stubby nose. Loudred's back a yellow pattern that resembled sound waves.

"Wah my ears," Chikorita complained. "What's that? I can't hear you," Charmander yelled back.

Once they could hear again Charmander said that they had to get to the briefing so they made a mad dash for the common area hoping that they didn't miss the briefing. When they go there everyone was already there (except for the Guildmaster). They took a spot next to the other Pokemon and waited for the Guildmaster to come out.

"YOU'RE LATE ROOKIES," "Silence," Chatot seemed to be in a bad mood today,

"You will SHUT UP AT ONCE," "I'm sorry sir," and Loudred fell silent.

"Well it seems that everyone is here," Chatot rose a wing and said, "Good Morning everyone," "Good morning, Chatot," they all replied in unison.

"Well then let's greet the Guildmaster," and when Chatot said those words the door suddenly burst open and the Guildmaster Wigglytuff.

"Good morning Guildmaster," but he didn't respond. "Guildmaster?" everyone asked looking confused until everyone heard him snore lightly. They all exchanged a snicker and then Chatot announced "Time to get to work!"

"HORAAY," everyone yelled and they all left to do their usually duties leaving Charmander and Chikorita standing there having no clue what to do.

"You two," Chatot said gesturing for them to follow, "Come with me," he then flew up the ladder that led to the upper level and the duo followed as fast as they could. Chatot stopped at one of the billboards, "What's that?" Charmander asked examining the board.

"This is a bulletin board," Chatot explained "Pokemon from all over the place have various requests from rescue to finding items to escorts and to do an exploration with you," "That Pidgey explained more or less the same thing yesterday, silly, don't you remember," Chikorita asked giggling slightly. "Oh, right," Charmander said scratching his head, feeling rather embarrassed and chuckled slightly.

"Are you two a couple or something," Chatot asked in a teasing manner? Both of them blushed at the comment and. "No we're not in love with each other, okay?" Chikorita shouted. "Then what's the reason for your sudden outburst," Chatot asked in a teasing manner. Chikorita blushed even more, while Charmander just laughed, he knew Chatot was just messing with them and was pleased that he didn't fall for it.

"Well anyway, you two will be getting a job for today," Chatot said while taking a piece of paper off the bulletin board, "This will do for a first job," he said handing the paper to Charmander.

"Let's see here," he muttered. "I have a job request and if anyone can do it please do it. Rescue me; I am being attacked by Shellos and Omanyte in Drenched Bluff. Please save me! From, Starly."

"Looks like this Starly is in trouble," said Chikorita, "Alright we'll go and save him," "Best of luck to both of you!" said Chatot as they ran out of the guild to go to Drenched Bluff.

Charmander and Chikorita made their way to Drenched Bluff and they saw quite a few murky puddles there and that told them that there going to be quite a few water types here and he was right, when they got there they were ambushed by three Anoriths, they weren't very powerful so they were defeated relatively quickly. As they proceeded, they fought more enemies, Charmander being the more powerful one in the duo defeated them all. Chikorita managed to defeat quite a few enemies and learned Reflect and Charmander learned fire fang. As they traveled deeper into the bluff, Charmander noticed a treasure chest so he pointed them out to Chikorita who got really excited and tried to open the chest. Much to her dismay, it didn't work.

Charmander tried spinning his tail up and bringing it down on the chest and that somehow seemed to work. Inside the chest were bunches of healing items (Oran berries, Pecha Berries, Cheri Berries, heal seeds, and a couple of Reviver Seeds.)

"Cool, look at all these items," Chikorita said looking happy at their find.

"Yeah I know, I guess I can use my tail as key," said Charmander, looking quite proud of himself.

They proceed to the end and saw a small bird being attacked by a vicious pair of Shellos and Omanyte. Charmander used his flamethrower to draw their attention away from the tired Starly and onto himself. "Hey look a fire type, lets beat the snot out of him," Charmander smirked as he dodged all of the attacks by guarding with his tail and countered with his tail and followed with a flamethrower finish. He got tired from spamming so he started slowing down so many attacks started hitting him.

Chikorita watched on in terror as her lover er I mean partner was taking hit after hit. "I won't lose this battle," he said as he took another hit "I will rescue that Starly no matter what," he said looking determined. That last sentence brought Chikorita back to her senses as she yelled "Charmander!" he turned toward and dodged a water pulse that was being aimed at him. Chikorita threw ten geo pebbles that she happened to find on her way through the bluff, all of them made the Shellos and Omanyte back off.

"What?" Omanyte said in surprise. "Nice one Chikorita!" he said as he noticed some sticks lying near where he was and he grabbed them and hurled them as Chikorita hurled the geo pebbles and that finished the attackers and they fled.

"You okay?" Charmander asked the tired Starly.

"Yeah I'll be okay, OUCH!" she yelled in pain as she tried to walk but it hurt too badly so Charmander being the caring Pokemon that he was carried Starly in his arms as they ran back to guild to get some help.

Later, after Starly recovered, "Thanks for saving me and helping me get to safety and your rewards are: 3000 poke an Oran berry, A Cheri berry, A Rawst berry, and a Max Elixir".

"All of this for us?" asked Chikorita incredulously. "Of course," Starly said winking at Charmander and Chikorita stared in jealousy. After Starly left, Chatot came and took ninety percent of the money leaving them with only 300 poke.

"You've gotta be kidding me," said Charmander crossing his arms.

"Sorry, guild rules, you'll just have to learn to accept them," he said flying off.

"Oh well," Charmander said frowning slightly. Chikorita looked sad that the money was taken from them. "Look on the bright side, at least we have more items that will definitely save us next time we have to go exploring or do a job," he said trying to be cheerful.

"You're right Charmander," Chikorita agreed and both their stomach's growled loudly and they both shared a laugh before heading off to dinner.


	4. Treasure Town and Dreams

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon or any of its characters**.

**If anyone has any ideas on how to make this story seem a little bit more romantic in later chapters. Please, PLEASE don't hesitate to tell me in a review or a PM. I would personally prefer a review, not having got one yet hurts a little but I will keep updating as much as I can.**

Chapter 4:

Charmander and Chikorita woke up the next day to find that it was still quite early. They didn't complain because they knew that the alternative would be having your ears blasted out by Loudred and they were both keen on avoiding that anyway they could possibly think of.

They got out of bed and started exploring the guild for themselves so that they would know where to go.

"The briefing is going to start soon," Charmander murmured to Chikorita who nodded as Sunflora (a you guessed it a sunflower Pokemon) a Corphish (a crab Pokemon) and Chimecho (a bell Pokemon) all filed into the main area to wait for the briefing.

A few minutes later Croagunk, Loudred, and Bidoof walked into the main area looking slightly groggy and tired from waking up so early.

As though on cue, Chatot and the Guildmaster came and they all did the morning cheers.

"All right everyone, let's get to work," Chatot cheered.

"HOORAY," everyone cheered fists waving in the air as they left to do their jobs as Chatot gestured for Chikorita and Charmander to follow him again.

Last time Chatot led them to rescue bulletin board, but this time he led them to a different one with pictures of Pokemon on them while the pair examined them with curiosity alight in their eyes.

"Wow look at all these Pokemon, are they famous explorers Chatot?" Chikorita asked curiously.

"Famous explorers, heck no, these are wanted outlaws that have bounty on their heads for committing crimes," Chatot explained grimly, taking them both by surprise.

"What! I can't face them! I get scared too easily," Chikorita exclaimed, tears appearing in her eyes.

"Hehehe, just kidding, crooks come in many shades from super wicked through mere petty thieves," Chatot explained, though this did nothing to make Chikorita feel any better about herself or her lack of confidence.

"We'll make sure that you don't have to face a super evil villain, until you get more experience being an exploration team," Chatot said thoughtfully, "I think that you two should get a tour of the facilities, Bidoof!" Chatot yelled.

"We'll defeat 'em no matter how hard the job," said Charmander cheerfully, "Right Chikorita?" he asked, turning to her not, noticing the blush that appeared on her face when Charmander was saying that they would defeat any outlaw.

"Yeah you're right," said Chikorita in a small voice.

"Something wrong?" he asked her and she merely shook her head, the blush fading away as a sound was heard coming up the ladder.

The brown Pokemon that they saw at the briefing earlier told them that this was Bidoof. "Bidoof, I want you to show these two around the Guild as well as Treasure Town, got it?"

"Yes sirree sir I got it," he said. "Finally," he said looking very happy.

"Finally what?" asked Charmander, looking utterly confused.

"I finally got someone that's more of a rookie than I am, you see I was the most recent apprentice here at the guild before you two came along," he explained while Team Drive felt unsure on how to act towards this.

"I see, well I guess our being here makes you feel better, huh," Chikorita asked thoughtfully.

"Yeah it does, but anyway let me show you two around the guild," Bidoof said gesturing for them to follow him.

Bidoof was a really nice Pokemon that showed them every important part of the guild, along with its role there. He then went to go show them Treasure town.

"Welcome to Treasure Town," Bidoof said happily.

"Wow," said Charmander, looking like a little kid let loose in a toy factory.

"This is Duskull bank," Bidoof said showing them the bank, "This is where you can take out or put in money that you get on your adventures."

"I can tell you about Treasure town as well, Charmander," Chikorita told him, smiling slightly at Charmander's awe.

"This is Electivire's link shop, I don't know what it is but you should ask him but he's not there right now," Chikorita said. "Further on is the Kecleon Market where you can buy and sell your items and then there is Kangaskhan storage, anything that is stored in there will never be stolen or lost while your out on you adventures," Chikorita finished, looking quite pleased with herself.

"Well you seemed mighty informed there," Bidoof said nodding his approval, "I'll let y'all get ready for your mission and meet back at the outlaw notice board at the guild so I can help you pick an outlaw," Bidoof said.

"Thanks Bidoof, you're so kind," Chikorita replied while Bidoof smiled and left for the guild.

"Well since we're here, let's go to Kecleon's Market and see what we can buy and sell," Chikorita suggested.

"I don't think we'd need all that much because of what found it that huge chest yesterday," Charmander reasoned thoughtfully.

"Yeah, but maybe they have other things that would help us defeat outlaws," Chikorita countered.

"Okay, let's go," Charmander replied with a shrug as they proceeded to the shop.

When they got there, they saw two Kecleon; one was green and the other was purple.

"Welcome to our shop," they both greeted. "What can we do for you today?" They both asked in unison.

"Hello, could I get an escape orb, a petrify orb, and Defense scarf," Chikorita asked.

"How are you gonna pay for all that," Charmander asked quietly as the Kecleon Bros. rummaged for the requested items.

"I have money doing different things before becoming an exploration team member," she whispered in response.

"That'll be 450 poke," they said handing Chikorita the items and she handed them the money in tern.

"Hey Chikorita?" Charmander asked suddenly. "Yeah?" said turning around.

"Do you mind if I look in the treasure bag for a bit?" he asked.

"Go ahead," she said relieving herself of her bag and giving it to Charmander.

"Hey what's this?" Charmander asked holding up an Orange colored bow.

"That's an Orange Bow, it makes you stronger in every aspect," she explained to him while he looked at it curiously from all angles.

"Who's gonna wear it," he asked her, arms crossed with the bow still in his hand.

"You are silly," she replied, giggling slightly.

"Why me?" he asked. "Because I already have a defense scarf and that's all I wanted," she responded.

"Okay," he said slowly as he put bow on and Chikorita put on her Defense Scarf. Then all of a sudden two Pokemon appeared Chikorita identified them as a Marill and Azurill.

"Could we buy an apple," they asked in unison and. They bought the apple and then ran back saying that they didn't ask for two but the Kecleon Bros explained that one was for their mother and the other was for them to enjoy. They thanked them and left saying that they had to go look for a precious item.

"Well we better get back," Charmander said hands behind his head and handed Chikorita the treasure bag.

"Yeah," she said and as they went back they noticed those two Pokemon that they met before talking to another one that Charmander was able to identify as a Hypno, and a powerful looking one at that, but he was talking to the bros nodding in sympathy and offered his help. They both nodded eagerly at this and he waved them goodbye and accidentally knocked into Charmander.

"That was really nice of him to do that," said Chikorita, smiling at the unfolding scene as Charmander clutched his head and heard a voice that yelled, "_Help Me," _and then he saw a vision of Hypno attempting to harm him.

"_What just happened_," Charmander thought to himself. "Hey Chikorita, did you hear any screaming?" he asked her, hoping she'd say yes.

"No I didn't, why do you ask," Chikorita asked, feeling a little curious.

"Because I thought heard that little Azurill scream and then I saw him being bullied by that Hypno," he answered, looking somewhat frustrated as he tried to figure out what that was all about.

"It must have been a daydream," Chikorita suggested, clearly worried about Charmander while he went into a state of deep thought. "_Was it just a daydream or was it real? I won't get anywhere if I keep thinking about this_," Charmander thought to himself. "And besides," she added, "He looked like a nice Pokemon to me, I saw them walk off together," she finished.

"Yeah, you're right," he agreed.

"Come on, we better head back," Chikorita said.

"Right," Charmander agreed and they headed back to the guild. They made their way back to the Outlaw notice board and just when the panels revolved and the jobs vanished only to be replaced with new jobs. At this point, Chikorita tensed slightly.

"Charmander, look at the board at the top right," she told him, looking grim. Charmander did so and looked shocked at what he saw, Hypno with a bounty on his head. They dashed out of the guild and saw Marill at the crossroads.

"Marill, what's wrong," Charmander said looking worried. Marill recounted the story of he and brother had split up Hypno and Azurill looking in the mountains and Marill looking in treasure town and at the beach.

"C'mon," Charmander yelled to Chikorita headed for the Mt. Bristle so they could defeat Hypno.

"Ok," Chikorita nodded bravely.

They scaled Mt. Bristle pretty easily and defeated the enemy Pokemon with ease and got some valuable experience. Charmander learned Iron Tail and Chikorita learned Magical Leaf as they proceeded to defeat Hypno.

"Whew, we made it to the top," Chikorita huffed looking somewhat tired.

"Hmph, I should have know you'd try to stop me," Hypno said from behind them.

The duo turned around and saw to their horror the outlaw was much more powerful than they had anticipated.

Charmander came in with a Flamethrower and which bounced back at him with Hypno's light screen. He then followed with Psychic to throw Charmander into a wall and used the rocks for extra damage. Chikorita could only watch helplessly as she saw her teammate fall to the ground, clearly unconscious.

"Charmander, wake up!" Chikorita yelled, tears forming in her red eyes. "This is not happening, it can't be happening, it can't!" she cried as her shed tears landed on his chest. She then turned her attention at Hypno who was smirking at her and she had just gone berserk and started throwing a barrage of Magical Leaf attacks at him, all of them doing max damage until she got tired and then just when she was about to pass out a huge flamethrower came out of nowhere and also attacked Hypno dead on and she turned to see Charmander surrounded by red aura.

"Say hello to my ability Blaze and Chikorita's ability Overgrow," Charmander said with a smirk.

"Charmander," Chikorita said in stunned disbelief, "I was revived thanks to those reviver seeds that you packed," he said with a smile on his face.

A few minutes later, Officer Magnezone and three Magnemite made sure Hypno wouldn't escape and then he thanked Team Drive for their assistance in the case saying that the guy was on the run for years and was finally caught and that the reward was sent to the guild.

Once they had left Charmander noticed one of those strange chests again and pointed out to Chikorita, she nodded and he opened it by swinging his tail and bringing it down on lid to reveal 1500 poke, 4 Oran berries, 3 Sitrus berries, 3 sleep seeds, a Protein, and a luminous orb as well as assorted gummis like red and grass.

Chatot gave them the 500 poke reward for the capture as well as a max elixir, ginseng, and a blue gummi.

When Chatot left, Chikorita's stomach started growling and then moments later so did Charmander and they went to have dinner.

Later that night, Charmander and Chikorita were talking in their room:

"Charmander, thanks," Chikorita said, blushing a little.

"What for?" he asked her as he sat on his bed.

"For helping me get to be who I am now," she responded, smiling brightly at him. She got tired and decided to hit the hay, but just when she was about to go to sleep Charmander suddenly said, "I heard you cry for me, no one's ever done that for me, thanks Chikorita for being a good friend," he said and promptly fell asleep before the Grass-type could say anything else.

**Please review if anyone has suggestions for future stories or for how to add romance into the mix, feel free to PM me.**


	5. Lazy Day and Training

**I had a rough time trying to finish this chapter and my computer broke down as you may have found out by checking my profile, anyway I'm gonna use my brother's old one for now until mine gets fixed. Read and Review.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters.**

Chapter 5:

Charmander and Chikorita woke up the next day to find that they had bandages on their backs and heads. Charmander had some on his right arm and they saw a hastily scribbled note next to their beds.

"_You two have taken a lot of damage from the high ranking outlaw yesterday so the Guildmaster has decided to give you two a day off to recover, explore treasure town, I heard that there is a new shop that's open and a training site just across from it. From, Chatot and Wigglytuff."_

"Wow that was nice of them to give us day off even though we're rookies," Chikorita said cheerfully.

"Yeah I know, but my whole body hurts but I wanna try that new training site," Charmander replied frowning slightly.

"I want to go and check out the new shop they just opened," said Chikorita, also frowning.

"Why don't we split up and check out both places," Charmander suggested.

"Sure why not, just make sure that you don't get hurt while you do your training," said Chikorita worriedly, though she wasn't keen on separating, she decided to go for it nonetheless just for fun.

"Yeah, yeah I won't, c'mon let's go," he said getting out of bed, and Chikorita followed suit and the pair left the guild to check the sites and they said goodbye to each other and headed off for their intended destinations; Chikorita for the shops and Charmander for the training site.

**Charmander's POV: (Point of View)**

I left Chikorita to go to the site and found it at the crossroads and went inside. It looked like a massive coliseum where the Pokémon were having light sparring matches.

"Wow," I said looking around in awe.

"Hey, you there," said a Machoke looking at me.

"Yeah?" I asked him.

"What are you doing here?" he asked, frowning at me.

"I came to get some light sparring so I can become stronger and defeat outlaws more quickly as well as rescue and do my jobs more quickly," I explained.

"I see," he said nodding "I must say that you are the youngest competitor that I've ever seen all years as sparring teacher," he said with a small smile. "I wonder why," I asked, frowning though not seriously thinking about it. "And I should point out that we have a small tournament today, would you like to give it a go?" the Machoke suggested.

"Yeah sure, I'm game," I said, taking off my bandages. I was pleased to see that the wounds had, for the most part, healed well.

"Well, when do you wanna start," Machoke asked me with a small smile.

I grinned and told him "Right now," "Awesome, that's what I like to hear, so get into the ring and just rest a little before your first match," said Machoke as he led me to the ring where I would be fighting.

"Right," I said with a nod.

**(A/N: Pokemon are allowed to use their moves in these kinds of tournaments.)**

I stood in the ring facing his first opponent: A Spinarak, he was quite a challenge but I was able to defeat him and proceed to the next round. I fought the next eight rounds without much more difficulty, opponents I faced were Phanpy, Trapinch, Voltorb, Bulbasaur, Totodile, Staravia, Pikachu, and Ariados.

It was finally round and I was ready to win! I was about to face my final opponent and it was a Meganium. I ready, she started firing razor leaf and I dodged with crazy fast speed and slammed and Iron Tail straight on the head and then followed with Flamethrower and she used light screen to lessen the damage. It was still a critical hit though. She fired a vine whip but I rolled towards her and used it roll as dodge as she tried to whip and I jumped and fired a flamethrower and finally defeated her.

"How'd you like that," I yelled triumphantly as the Machoke clapped and handed me a large bag of money and a crown that was gold.

"Congratulations, Charmander," Machoke said, grinning at me.

"Thank you so much for the experience and I think that I got much stronger through those battles," I replied, grinning from ear to ear as I put the crown on my head and accepted the winnings and left.

**Chikorita's POV: (This takes place at the time they split except this time she's in a shop.)**

I left Charmander to go to the shopping district deep in thought about him. "I wonder how his training is going," I wondered out loud. I shrugged and kept looking for something to get for myself.

A few hours later I found a lot of nice gear that might help me and Charmander on our adventures as an exploration team. I found all kinds of accessories, healing items, and armor (like Defense and Pecha scarves).

"Well I guess I should head back as it is almost dinner time," I said putting all my stuff into my treasure bag.

**Normal POV:**

"Hey Chikorita," Chamander said waving at her from the top most steps of the guild.

"Hi Charmander," she said with a smile and then noticed the crown perched lopsidedly on his head. "Uh Charmander, why do you have a crown on your head?" Chikorita asked him, eying the crown curiously.

Charmander scratched the back of his head before saying, "I won at the tournament they had at the training site," he explained as he recounted his matches to Chikorita.

"Wow, that's so cool," said Chikorita, beaming at him.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot," said Charmander, holding out his winnings to her.

"What are you doing!" she asked incredulously.

"Go on, take it," he said with a smile as they walked into the guild and she reluctantly accepted it and started thanking him for giving his winnings to her.

"We're gonna need it for later adventures," he responded, looking somewhat grim.

"Yeah, you're right," she agreed, looking more cheerful than he had ever seen her.

Slowly the other apprentices ambled into the room and headed for dinner, Chikorita hid the money in the treasure bag and Charmander did the same with the crown as to avoid awkward questions and put it in their room.

After dinner Team Drive was called to the Guildmaster's chamber and told them that they were finally ready for a real exploration that would require a proper exploration team. The duo got excited at this prospect and they went to sleep that night with the excitement that they would be going on a real exploration.

"I hope your ready, Chikorita and Charmander," Chatot muttered as they went to sleep "You're gonna need it," as he left the room.

**Looks like Charmander got a crown and Chikorita got them some new items and just so you know Charmander will be wearing the crown for the rest of the story and takes off when he enters the guild. Read and Review.**


	6. First Exploration

**Hey you guys. Thanks for reviewing my story and as a reward for your reviews here's the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters. On with the story. **

Chapter 6:

Charmander and Chikorita woke up the next morning in high spirits because the duo received a special mission the previous night about their very first exploration and were to set out to the place in question as soon as the briefing was over so they went to the briefing and promptly headed out to the cave after Charmander put on his crown and Orange Bow while Chikorita putting on her Defense scarf and Stamina band.

"So what's mission called," Chikorita asked as they were walking towards their destination looking at Charmander who was in a daze.

"What, oh sorry, the mission is called 'Exploring the Secret Waterfall' and it says here that there is something hidden in the area," Charmander told her while reading the letter.

"Okay then, all we have to do is find it, let's go," said Chikorita as she began running towards the waterfall with Charmander in hot pursuit. They made it to the waterfall within ten minutes, but figuring out the secret was a bit tougher. They looked around the surrounding area and there were no clues there.

"I think we should look at the waterfall," Charmander suggested to an unconvinced Chikorita but seeing as they had nothing to lose they gave it go and they both ran at it and were forced back and then suddenly Charmander has another vision: some silhouette running through it and landing in a cave on the other side.

"Chikorita, I think we should jump through the waterfall because there is a cave on the other side," Charmander yelled over the rush of the waterfall. "I had a vision of it," he added whil Chikorita looked at him as though he had grown another head.

"What! Are you crazy?" she demanded. "What if there was actually solid rock on the other side and we'd or I should say that you would be in deep trouble," she countered.

"We won't know until we try," said Charmander with a determined look that Chikorita always loved.

"Okay, let's do it, use all of your courage!" she yelled as they jumped through and they landed on the other side to find a _cave._

"Wow, look at all the crystals," she said, eyes sparkling, "You were right Charmander, you were right," she said happily.

"Told ya," he said with a smirk. "C'mon we'd better explore the cave," he said as he and Chikorita picked up a few of the crystals that were lying around.

It became immediately clear that this wasn't going to be easy, especially for Charmander because this cave had some pretty powerful water types. If Chikorita hadn't been there to help him out, he'd be sunk. "Thanks Chikorita," he said after getting assaulted by a hoard of water types. Charmander used Iron Tail and Chikorita used Magical Leaf and learned Synthesis so she didn't get tired so easily.

"We finally made it down to the furthest part of the cave," Charmander said, huffing in hopes of trying to catch his breath.

"Yeah I - what's that?" she said walking over to the huge gem lodged into the wall "Wow, imagine how impressed everyone else would be if we brought this back to the guild," Chikorita said happily and started trying to pull it out.

"No good, Charmander why don't you give a shot," Chikorita suggested to an unconvinced Charmander who shrugged and tried with no success to pull out the gem.

"No, I refuse to give up," Chikorita declared angrily and immediately tried again.

"_That's weird, why won't the stone budge_," he wondered to himself when on cue, he had another vision of the same silhouette pushing the gem in question and caused a flood to occur.

"Hey Chikorita, whatever you do don't press the-," Charmander said but his sentence cut off by the sound of the approaching flood.

"What's that noise," Chikorita said looking around and Charmander simply sweatdropped and explained to Chikorita as fast as he could without confusing her that there was a flood that comes whenever someone presses the gem and no one knows where they are taken.

They tried to run, but it was too late because of the fact that a flood that launched them straight out of the cliff was carrying them away and they landed in a distant hot spring.

They slowly regained consciousness and found themselves in the hot springs and the Pokemon their explained to Team Drive that they suddenly fell from the sky and landed there surprising everyone there.

Torkoal, a turtle Pokémon with an orange skill and hard shell, advised them to stay there for a while so they could rest which they both agreed to Chikorita more than Charmander though, being a fire type but he didn't mind the hot springs because they felt soothing and so they spent the rest of the day playing in the hot spring before thanking Torkoal and the other Pokemon and headed for the guild.

" So let me get this straight," said Chatot, trying to recount Team Drive's story.

"You discovered a cave behind the waterfall, and found a bright gem and the end of the cave, when the gem is pressed that then triggers a flood that drifted you off to a distant hot spring, is that your story in its fullness?" inquired Chatot while the duo nodded.

"Yes, but its a shame that we couldn't bring it back," said Chikorita sadly.

"No, no, no, you've made a discover, the cave behind the waterfall was something no one knew before!" said Chatot cheerfully while Chikorita's spirits soared as well.

"_In my visions, the shadow of the Pokemon exploring the cave must have been...Wigglytuff_?"

"You're discovery was most impressive, the Guildmaster must be informed of this at once," he said beaming.

"_I don't want to ruin Chikorita's confidence by mentioning that the Guildmaster had already gone there before us_," Charmander thought to himself.

"C'mon Charmander, let's go get dinner," said Chikorita happily and Charmander nodded his agreement and they left for the Mess Hall.

After dinner, Charmander and Chikorita were found in their room talking about the Time Gears and explains what's going on with them being stolen gears and Chatot came in, telling them to come to the Guildmaster's chamber.

Charmander and Chikorita followed the flying type to the chamber and Wigglytuff began telling them about the big expedition coming up and they all get excited at the prospect and they go back to their room so they can get some sleep with a strong to work harder the next day.


	7. Training and Enemies

**You guys are awesome. Thanks LIL Killa 16 Rugby Girl for your approval of my romance. Thank Eddy for giving me the advice that I can bear in mind when I write future chapters. PLEASE REVIEW.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters because if I did then the story would appeared in the anime.**

Chapter 7

Team Drive woke up the next morning and ran to the briefing and found Chatot explaining that they were going to mount an expedition to a far away place and that best apprentices could go on the trip.

'An expedition, yes sirree," said Bidoof clearly excited at the prospect at going on this trip.

"We are leaving in several days so do your best and work hard to improve your chances," Chatot went on to say.

"Time to get to work," Chatot said with his cheerful optimism

"HOORAY!!" They all cheered as they left to do their jobs.

"Team Drive," Loudred called.

"Yeah what's up?" The duo said walking over toward them.

"You're doing sentry duty today," Loudred said. "Sorry, I am the usually the one doing sentry duty but my dad gave me his job of updating the bulletin boards and I can't man my post so I would appreciate it if you could do it for me, bye," Diglett said as he burrowed away.

"How'd we get involved in this anyway," Chikorita demanded looking stunned.

"SHUT UP and get to work," Loudred snarled. "Buck up and do a GOOD job," he added with a growl.

"What the heck are we supposed to do anyway?" Charmander said with his arms crossed and head cocked in confusion.

"Go down this hole, your doing sentry duty," Loudred said as both of them sweatdropped.

"Yeah, we got that part, but what do we have to DO," Charmander asked still confused.

"Okay, here's how it works: you go down and identify the footprint, and then I decide whether the visitor is safe or not and depending on that choice, I will open the guild and let the Pokémon in question inside.

"Okay, then, let's do it," Charmander said his fist in the air.

"Let's do this," Chikorita said in agreement.

They went down the hole and found the light at the end of the tunnel and they were ready. They had to identify 35 Pokémon, all of which were all identified correctly. Loudred was deeply impressed, especially with Charmander because he didn't seem to know much about Pokémon so that was something worth being proud of.

'Well, let's review your performance for today," Chatot said. "I don't believe it, you identified every single one of the Pokémon correctly, Good job you two," he said as he gave Team Drive a generous selection of rewards: 600 poke, a ginseng, a red gummi, an Oran berry, and a Gold ribbon.

"Is really ok to be reward this much," Chikorita asked while dancing with Charmander ring around the rosy style.

"Of course," Chatot said warmly while smirking at Chikorita who was still dancing with Charmander saw this and stopped but started blushing slightly. "You two have done something that Diglett had some trouble with in the beginning," he said who continued to smirk at Chikorita. Charmander looked proud of himself and for Chikorita because they did really well.

They had dinner and went to bed and promptly falling asleep because of the darkness of that pit.

The next day…..

Charmander and Chikorita made to the briefing they went to do some jobs only to see a Koffing and Zubat examining some jobs.

"Are those…," Chikorita murmured to Charmander eying the duo with apprehension. The duo noticed Team Drive and promptly moved over to them.

"Well, well, well, what have we here, what's a weakling like you doing at a guild like this," Koffing sneered at Chikorita.

"Oh, you know, rescue some Pokémon and kicking outlaw butt," Charmander said coolly defending Chikorita who beamed at him and returned it with a smirk.

'If I'm so weak, what does that make you?" she said coldly "You even lost to us and if you call us weak than you are the one's that are even weaker but then again you could only win by cheating," Chikorita said with a contemptuous look at the pair.

"We didn't have our leader with us," Zubat said. "If he were here we'd wipe the floor with you pathetic weaklings," Zubat sneered.

"Speaking of which, I can smell him coming," Zubat said to Koffing.

Then all of sudden the room was blasted with an awful stench that burned everyone's eyes except for Charmander who didn't notice a thing. A Skuntank came into view and everyone backed away from except for Charmander who smirked at him.

"Out of my way," Skuntank said knocking out Charmander but failed because Charmander's defense was too high for the attack to do much damage.

"What," Skuntank stunned. "Humph," Charmander said walking towards Chikorita whose eyes were burning and helped heal the injuries that she got.

"He basically pulled out some water and sprayed that into her eyes and that healed her. Charmander then did the same with everyone else who got hit and everyone gave a word of thanks when he was done with the healing.

When Charmander rejoined Chikorita she gave him a hug and asked him how he knew how to make everything right and Charmander merely shrugged saying that he just got a lucky guess.

"Well let's go do some jobs," Chikorita said grabbing some of the harder ones off the boards and went to the respective dungeon to do the jobs. They first had to defeat a pair of outlaws and get back the item they stole, they then had to escort a starly to its friend Pidgey further on and then they had to rescue a Pokémon named Gligar who was wounded. Chikorita healed its wounds using synthesis on herself and Gligar and then sent him back to the Guild. They made to the end and left knowing what would happen if they tried to do push that gem again and had no wish to repeat the experience.

They came back to the guild and it was still midday and the first thing they saw was a notice saying that a new tournament is available and that anyone who wants participate should register. Chikorita thought that this was a good idea and Charmander readily agreed and they registered. The Machoke that had registered them said that they were doing the tag team battles. They fought Pokemon that were more or less the same skill level as their own.

1st Round: Charmander and Chikorita vs Bulbasaur and Totodile.

2nd Round: Charmander and Chikorita vs Staravia and Aipom.

3rd Round: Charmander and Chikorita vs Bidoof and Barboach.

4th Round: Charmander and Chikorita vs Piplup and Turtwig.

5th Round: Charmander and Chikorita vs Phanpy and Larvitar.

6th Round: Charmander and Chikorita vs Sunflora and Croagunk.

7th Round: Charmander and Chikorita vs Keckleon and Drowsee.

8th Round: Charmander and Chikorita vs Golduck and Grovyle.

Semi-Finals : Charmander and Chikorita vs Torterra and Infernape.

Finals: Charmander and Chikorita vs Charizard and Blastoise. (Charizard is one of my favorite Pokemon but it wouldn't as exciting in my opinion if tried something else.)

"Ready to lose," Charizard taunted hoping to throw them off their guard. They merely smirked and kept their guard up.

"Begin!" Machoke yelled. 'It began with Charizard using steel wing on Chikorita which she rolled to the side to dodge and launched a razor leaf which was turned into a crisp with a flamethrower.

Charizard fired another one and it was a direct hit and Chikorita was down but not out. She turned towards Blastoise who was just standing there and she launched a barrage of Magical leafs at his head. All of them were direct hits and super effective and Blastoise was knocked out and left the ring. Charizard quickly retaliated by firing a fire blast at Chikorita who was also Chikorita and knocked her out.

Now it was Charmander vs Charizard. Charmander fired a flamethrower and Charmander jumped and then unleashed a spinning Iron Tail and then he somehow learned Brick Break and used that as his finisher, which knocked Charizard out and they received the Crystal Cup.

"Would mind holding on to it for us so we can avoid awkward questions at the guild," Chikorita asked the Machoke.

"Yeah, we'd be delighted in holding on to it for your until you decide to take it," Machoke said with a grin as he put the cup on a pedestal and sealed it in a glass case.

They headed back to the guild and ate dinner and were really pleased when Wigglytuff called them and handed them a silver badge and a new treasure bag that could hold more items that they could before.

They trudged to their room looking thoroughly exhausted from the day's events and Charmander gave Chikorita two Rawst Berries that he found saying that they would help heal her burns and she ate them gratefully and went to bed and fell asleep and Charmander followed suit.

It was Charmander and Chikorita vs Charizard and Blastoise.

"Ready to lose," Charizard said tauntingly to Charmander. Charmander merely smirked already figuring out Charizard's plan and Charizard launched a flamethrower which was a direct hit on Chikorita and she countered by using synthesis to heal herself and then used magical leaf on Blastoise which was super effective, direct and critical hit, and that pretty put the end to Blastoise.

"Looks like we're not as weak as you may think we are," Charmander said smirking as he jumped the flamethrower and countered with a spinning iron tail and he now could use brick break and used that as his finisher and that pretty much knocked out Charizard.

"How'd you like that," Charmander said raising his fist and then high-fives Chikorita for her victory over Blastoise. Machoke handed the dancing duo a crystal cup but they asked him to keep it for them so that no one would take it. Machoke agreed putting the cup on the pedestal for all to admire.

It was evening when Chikorita and Charmander returned to the guild and they went to dinner and were pleased when Chatot called them and handed them a new silver colored badge and a better treasure bag that could hold more items.

Charmander and Chikorita had taken off their armor (aka Defense Scarf, Pecha Scarf, etc.) and Charmander put his crown in the treasure bag for safe-keeping. They both grinned when sleep finally overtook them quite peacefully.

"Good night," Chikorita whispered to Charmander.

"Good night," Charmander whispered to Chikorita and they both finally fell asleep.

**That ends Chapter 7. I hope that you guys will keep reviewing my stories because you are all wonderful people and you will keep reviewing. Please?**


	8. Team Drive vs Team Skull

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon because if I did then I wouldn't be writing Fanfiction.**

**Chapter 8:**

Chikorita and Charmander woke the next morning and ran to the briefing. It wasn't interesting until Chatot mentioned more Pokémon joining the guild.

"What? New apprentices?" Sunflora asked.

"No, they are not, they are just here to help out during our expedition," Chatot explained.

"P-Pardon," Chikorita stuttering, thinking that it was those three bullies that they saw yesterday. Her suspicions were confirmed when a blast of stink came into the room and stung everyone's eyes and it smelled terrible, a Skuntank with Zubat and Koffing on either side of him came into the room.

"You?" Charmander said looking at the trio, looking furious.

"Are you two acquainted with each other?" Chatot said bewildered.

"Yeah, we've met before," said Charmander coldly.

"Anyway, these three have kindly offered to help out with the expedition," Chatot continued.

"What?" Chikorita said, surprised.

"Chatot sir, don't worry that one is always overreacting," Skuntank said.

"Well…" Chatot said, his voice trailing off.

"Let's just do the cheer, and get to work," he decided.

Everyone sweatdropped and said "hooray," dully.

"Where's your usual cheer?" Chatot asked, frowning.

"You've GOTTA be KIDDING," Loudred snapped. "How can you expect us to be cheerful, this STINKS!" Loudred continued.

But suddenly they heard a huge tremor and noted that the Guildmaster wasn't happy. He looked kinda sad and was muttering something that sounded suspiciously like "Yoom Tah…"

"Be cheerful, even if it kills you!" Chatot yelled.

"HORAAY!" Everyone cheered and the tremor suddenly stopped. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief at this.

Charmander and Chikorita got as many jobs as they could and discovered a few new dungeons in the process, courtesy of the missions where they would have to go and explore. Fortunately for them, they had eaten quite a few gummis at this point so their IQ would pretty high and would make winning a battle that much easier. They geared up and went exploring a new area and finding three chests along the way. Chikorita opened the first one by whacking it with her leaf to reveal a Zinc. Charmander opened the other two and they contained a Protein and 20 Iron Thorns.

"Not bad for a day's work," Chikorita said, happy with the finds. Since there was still time before they had to return to the guild, they decided to check out the Spinda Cafe that had just opened and see what to get. Charmander handed Spinda an apple and made the two some apple juice in two tall glasses and told them that they're might be something special in the cup.

They both chatted a little and drinking all the while and when they finished Charmander found a ruby necklace in his glass.

Thinking that Chikorita might like it, he put away for now and checked to see if there was anything else. He looked at the bottom to find a location of a new dungeon. It was called Lush Prairie.

"Chikorita, did find something in your glass?" Charmander asked. Chikorita shook her head and Charmander sighed.

"What, about the bottom of you glass, then," Charmander asked, and Chikorita looked at the bottom and it said 'winner'. Chikorita told Spinda about this and handed them an egg explaining that it will hatch in a few days and advised that they give it to Chansey who had opened a day care in Treasure town for eggs. They decided to leave the egg in Chansey's care and Chikorita wondered how Charmander knew.

"Charmander?" Chikorita asked him as they were walking back to the guild.

"Hmm," he replied, looking at her showing that he was listening.

"How did you know that there was something that at the bottom of my glass," Chikorita asked.

"The same thing happened to me," he explained. "Except I found a new location that we can go explore sometime, it's called Lush Prairie," he said.

"That sound quite peaceful and _romantic_," Chikorita said, emphasizing the word "romantic" and blushing slightly at thought of she and Charmander hanging out alone at romantic scenery.

"_When we go to Lush Prairie, I'll give her the necklace, I think she'll like that," _he said, grinning to himself. They went inside and had dinner.

Later that night while all the apprentices were asleep:

"They called that grub? I'm still hungry!" Zubat said.

"Let's go raid the guild's food stock chaw-haw-haw, and we can treat ourselves to a proper feast," Skuntank said, smirking.

"I like your style boss," Koffing grinned as they stole the food and started feasting until their bellies were full which took a lot of food because they were so fat.

The apprentices woke up the next morning and went for the briefing. After being assigned jobs, Chatot pulled Chikorita and Charmander aside.

"Team Drive, before you guys head for your jobs today, I want you to go replenish the larder," Chatot said.

"What, you mean go get some food," Charmander asked with his head cocked in confusion.

"Correct, we inspected the food stock this morning to find that the amount of food as sharply dropped, and worst part of it is that the Perfect Apples are completely gone! Those are the Guildmaster's favorite food!" he said, looking terrified at the thought.

"Okay…" Charmander and Chikorita said slowly.

"If he doesn't get his perfect apples, then urk," Chatot said looking really scared.

"Huh, what do you mean urk," Chikorita asked. "Aargh, it'll kill us not knowing, but sure we'll get some more food for you, don't worry!"

"You just do your job, we'll take care of the rest," he added, gesturing to himself.

"If you want to find perfect apples, go into the deepest part of apple woods and you'll find them," Chatot informed them.

"Gotcha," Charmander said as he and Chikorita left.

"Way to take charge!" Chatot said to their retreating backs and they both raised either a paw or leaf to show a salute.

**Meanwhile:**

"So those two weaklings are foraging for food, eh?" Skuntank said, smirking.

"Let's go mess with them," Koffing suggested as Team Skull left to follow Team Drive.

"This is it," said Charmander, standing outside Apple Woods.

"C'mon, we'd better hurry," said Chikorita as they ran into the forest.

As the duo proceeded further into the forest, they noticed that there were fewer Pokemon around here as opposed to on the lower levels. They shrugged it off by thinking that there probably wasn't enough food to support that many Pokemon and so they just kept moving forward and they finally reached the deepest part of the forest and saw trees full of perfect apples.

"Wow," Chikorita said, her eyes shining brightly as she looked around in awe while Charmander was thinking to himself.

"_Should I give her the necklace now? Or should I wait until we are in a better location? I think I'll wait 'till later_," Charmander thought to himself as he scratched his head carefully so that he won't knock the crown off.

"Charmander!" Chikorita said worriedly.

"Yeah?" he replied.

"Why'd you zone out on me," she asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"Sorry Chikorita, I was just thinking," Charmander replied.

"About what?" she asked curiously.

"The expedition," he replied. "I hope we get picked," he added as an after thought.

"I hope so too. Anyway, we'd better get back to picking the apples," Chikorita said gesturing towards the trees.

"How are we gonna get them down?" asked Charmander.

They heard a burp come from the tree and saw Team Skull come out in front of them.

"You?" Charmander yelled, getting into a stance ready for a battle.

"What are you doing here?" Chikorita asked, angrily looking at the trio.

"You wanted help trying to get the perfect apples down, it really couldn't be easier," Skuntank said as he rammed into a tree and a bunch of perfect apples fell.

"..." was Team Drive response.

"Well what are you waiting for?" Skuntank asked, "Gather up those apples and get back to the guild," he said.

"I bet its just another one of your mean little tricks," said Charmander, getting into a stance ready for battle.

"Color me surprised, they didn't fall for it one bit!" Zubat exclaimed, looking truly surprised. "Aww, that's no fun," Koffing whined.

"But hey what are you gonna do about it?" Skuntank sneered.

"The only thing we can do! Knock you out and take the perfect apples!" Chikorita shouted, looking angry.

"Hey Team Drive, how about a fair duel," Skuntank said coolly as he and Koffing stood side by side.

"I think they're gonna try something," Chikorita muttered. Charmander sensed it before it happened and told Chikorita to run to the left while he did the same at the right as the two poison types let loose a noxious gas special combo courtesy of Koffing and Skuntank.

"Dang it," Skuntank said, swearing under his breath angry as they prepared for battle.

(Cue dramatic music)

The battle began with Skuntank firing a barrage of shadow balls and Charmander used his tail to guard them and they didn't deal any damage. Thankfully, Charmander was close enough to Skuntank to counter with a series of flamethrowers and a brick break finish. Chikorita cast reflect to protect them both as Zubat tried and failed to land a wing attack on Chikorita and she countered with Magical Leaf.

She then distracted them using her sweet scent while Charmander used fire fang on Koffing and that finished him. Chikorita jumped Zubat's latest attempt at wing attack and then used the jump to power up her body slam, which did more damage than normal. Skuntank quickly used sludge bomb on them both and Chikorita, being a grass type, took much more damage and fainted. Charmander ran towards her but not before Stuntank used an Iron tail on Charmander, which he guarded using his Iron tail.

"Give up," he said putting his foot on Chikorita's back and forcing it down as hard as he could, causing Chikorita to yelp in pain.

Charmander was panting and kneeling in front of Skuntank but watching Chikorita suffer like that gave him so much rage that he began to go berserk. His tail flame lit up even hotter and he fired a powerful whirlwind fire attack which made Skuntank back off.

Charmander quickly took this opportunity while he was in the air to land an Iron tail on Skuntank's back and that did the trick as it hit its mark which meant that Skuntank was knocked out.

Charmander quickly regained his sanity, grabbed the perfect apples that fell during the battle and to his relief, they were in good shape so he put them in the treasure bag and then took the treasure bag from Chikorita and put it on himself.

He then picked Chikorita bridal style and carried her back to the guild.

"Oh my ARCEUS," Chatot exclaimed when he saw Chikorita in that condition, "What happened?" he asked Charmander who promptly fainted on the spot from carrying Chikorita and the treasure bag and noticed a ruby necklace and Chatot smirked at what Charmander was trying to do and picked up the necklace. Chatot helped Charmander inside and Loudred and Sunflora took care of Chikorita, Chimecho helped heal Charmander.

"Charmander, what happened," Chimecho asked him, looking worried.

"We were going to Apple Woods to get Perfect Apples for the Guildmaster, and then," he whispers, _"Team Skull ambushed and attacked us Chikorita took care of Zubat, and I took care of Koffing, Chikorita weakened Skuntank down a little but he knocked her out and then he trampled her as hard as he could and that seemed to trigger something in me, but we defeated him,"_ "and that is what happened," Charmander said to a stunned Chimecho.

"Just don't tell the guildmaster or Chatot what happened," he pleaded to her, which she agreed to quite willingly and assured him that his secret was safe with her. He smiled and left to go give Chikorita some comfort but then he realized that he didn't have the necklace and asked Chatot if he knows where it is.

Chatot handed it to him and said that he found it lying next to Charmander when he collapsed. He thanked Chatot and went to help Chikorita. "Those two make quite the pair," Chatot whispered as Charmander left."

"Chikorita," muttered Charmander as he found her asleep by her bed wrapped with bandages. He smiled at how far Chikorita has come as an explorer. He took out a couple Oran berries, an apple and a Max Elixir and put them on the table next to Chikorita's bed and wrote her a note:

"_Chikorita, I hope you feel better soon, you're going to need if we make in the expedition party. I put some useful items on your table that the Guildmaster told me to give to you before turning in, you should rest tomorrow and I'll deal with our exploration team. Get well soon, with love from - Charmander._"

"Oh Charmander," Chikorita said with tears in her eyes as she read the note and looked outside hoping Charmander would stay with her for awhile.

Just then Charmander came into the room into the room with a smile on his face.

"Charmander!" she gasped, looking thoroughly happy to see him.

"Chikorita, you were amazing when we fought them out there," Charmander said, beaming at her.

"Really? I thought I wasn't all that helpful," Chikorita said sadly.

"Oh come on, stop talking nonsense, you took out Zubat and you distracted Koffing long enough so that I could take him out with fire fang!" Charmander exclaimed incredulously.

"Charmander, tell me what happened after I fainted," Chikorita requested, sitting up.

"OK, Skuntank stepped on you really hard and something triggered inside me giving me additional power and took him out with Iron tail. I grabbed the many Perfect apples that were scattered all over the place, took the treasure bag, and carried all of our stuff and you back to the guild where I finally fainted, I woke up a few hours before you," Charmander finished his explanation.

"I see, no wonder my back hurt so badly," said Chikorita, rubbing at her back.

"Yeah, anyway, I brought some apple juice," he said, holding out a large cantine of apple juice for Chikorita and got one out for himself. They toasted to a successful mission and eternal friendship as they drank the delicious juice.

"See you in the morning," he said.

"Wait, Charmander," Chikorita said as Charmander turned around to look at her.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Would you mind spending the night with me?" Chikorita asked, blushing heavily. "I don't want to be alone while in the early stages of recovery," she added.

"Okay, if it'll help you feel better then I'm game," Charmander said, making a makeshift bed and lying down on it. It was actually pretty good considering the fact that Charmander made it in only a few seconds. He muttered a good night to Chikorita, which she quietly returned before falling asleep.

Charmander woke up the next day and went to the briefing alone (Chikorita still recovering at the hospital site at the guild). Once the briefing was over Charmander went to the Guildmaster's Chamber and gave them the perfect apples, apologizing for not giving them to him the previous day.

"Don't worry about it," Wigglytuff reassured Charmander while happily playing with his Perfect Apple "I understand, you were more concerned for your partner's safety and that is one of the qualities that makes a good exploration team, keep up the good work," Wigglytuff said with a smile.

Charmander left the chamber with a grin on his face, which faded slightly when he saw Team Skull who agreed not to breathe a word of this to anyone so because that would have been humiliating. They all settled with giving Charmander the death stare which he didn't notice heading off to go check out the Outlaw notice boards.

Charmander went off to do some jobs. He decided to stay away from drenched bluff and waterfall cave since he was going solo while Chikorita was still recovering. He chose a hard one in Lush Prairie and explored it with a female Piplup and they arrived at the end with a treasure box, which Charmander opened to find a weather band. He put it in the treasure bag and he and Piplup headed back.

"Thanks so much for taking me on an adventure," Piplup said profusely and she had an idea. "Can I join your team?" asked Piplup.

"Yeah sure," Charmander said.

"So, what did you do today?" Chikorita asked Charmander who reluctantly let him go solo for a day. I just went exploring with a Piplup and then she wanted to join our team and I said "yes".

"I think that it'll help in the long run," Chikorita said. _"As long as she doesn't try anything on Charmander then it'll be fine,"_ Chikorita thought to herself.

"Yeah I thought so too," Charmander said.

Team Drive had quite a few other Pokemon on their exploration team but they preferred to work as a duo than to have anyone joining them.

Chikorita was all set to leave and they headed back to their room at the guild and sat their talking about what Charmander did as they were told that dinner was ready and everyone was ready to chow down until Chatot stopped them by saying that the people who will get picked to go will be chosen tomorrow and everyone got psyched and they all hoped that they would get picked.

"I hope we get picked," Chikorita said eagerly. "I think we did a really good job, don't you think so Charmander?" she asked him.

"Yeah," he replied. _Chikorita, thank you for being there for me _Charmander thought as he promptly fell asleep with Chikorita following suit.

**I thought that I'd cut it off here because I didn't want to make it too long because that would make you and me bored pretty quickly. Please review. If anyone has ideas tell me through a PM or a review, the review being more preferable than PMs because I don't get that many reviews and that makes me a little sad.**


	9. Hurt Feelings and Recovery

**Hey guys I'm back with a new chapter, I must say that I was really pleased with the feedback I got from the last chapter (heck I didn't think that I'd get any feedback at all). YOU GUYS ARE FREAKING AWESOME. I could use this for later chapters, as a reward for your awesome reviews, I present to you the 9th chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon or any of its characters. I do own the modified plot. Thanks Shining4Charizard for helping out with the beginning.**

Chapter 9:

Charmander and Chikorita ran in for the briefing clearly excited about who is gonna be chosen to go on the expedition. When they got there, everyone was in muttered conversation with each other talking about who may or may not be going on the expedition in hushed voices. Chikorita and Charmander merely stood there, anticipation written all over their faces eagerly waiting for Chatot and the guildmaster to come out and announce the names of those in the expedition party.

"I hope they hurry up," Chikorita said pacing the room with Charmander sitting and watching her "I don't know how much more I can take before I just explode from the anticipation and the excitement," she added as an afterthought.

"It shouldn't really take THIS long," Charmander replied. "I guess they must have had a hard time picking who should go because everyone was and is working incredibly hard and dreaming about this for days," Charmander added as an afterthought.

After fifteen minutes of waiting impatiently, Chatot and the guildmaster finally came out and Chatot was holding a piece of paper in his wing that the guild members guessed had the names of who would be going in the expedition party.

"Sorry to keep you waiting like this," Chatot said. "You all did a really fantastic job and because of that it was much MUCH harder to decided who would be going," he went on.

"Now without further ado," Chatot began, "Our first member is... Loudred," Chatot announced.

"I did it," Loudred said doing a victory pose and giving a huge grin."But then again, it's only NATURAL that I WOULD get picked, WOOHOO!" he yelled and everyone else sweatdropped and thought in indignation and in unison with the exception of the guildmaster, Chatot, and Team Skull, _"Is he saying that he wasn't nervous at all?!"_

"Moving on then," Chatot said breaking the silence "Our next member is... Corphish!" he announced.

"Yes I did it hey-hey," Corphish cheered. _"Whew, for a second there I thought I wasn't going to be picked to go," _he thought worriedly.

"Next we have...well this IS a surprise, our next member is Bidoof," Chatot said.

"I never thought I could pull it off, but I did it!" Bidoof cheered and joined Loudred and Corphish.

"Next we have Chimecho and Sunflora," Chatot said.

"Us too?" Chimecho asked to a stunned Sunflora who nodded and went to the rest of the group of the expedition members.

"Diglett and Dugtrio are also in our party," Chatot said.

"Sweet," Diglett cheered while Dugtrio looked quite proud of himself.

"I guess that's all of them," Chatot said.

_"I guess we managed to interfere with those pathetic weaklings enough that they were no longer able to go on this expedition,"_ Skuntank thought with a cold, cruel, smirk that was intended for Charmander and Chikorita who looked incredibly disappointed and bid farewell to others and walked away to choose some difficult jobs.

Charmander and Chikorita were out of earshot when Chatot said "Wait there are two more names here," he said.

"Charmander and Chikorita are also going on the expedition," Chatot said looking around for the duo.

"Where are they anyway?" Chatot asked looking confused.

"I saw them leave with a bunch of hard jobs in hand with them," Chimecho said sadly. "I think they thought that since they weren't chosen to go on the expedition, they felt no need to waste anymore time and left to go get some jobs," she added.

"Well hey-hey we have no way of knowing where they went because we all know that they have discovered quite a few new dungeons and we have no way of knowing which one they might be doing their work," Corphish added.

"Well we can't just wait for them," Skuntank said impatiently.

"We can and we will," Wigglytuff said. "We leave no friend behind, and that includes Charmander and Chikorita," he added.

"Everyone go and make preparations for the expedition as I can assure you that it will be a long one so make sure you are all stocked up on items," Chatot said. "And if anyone finds Team Drive in Treasure Town, tell them that they were also chosen to go on this expedition," Chatot said looking sad as everyone else left as a burst of talk came forth about where Team Drive could be and they left to go make their preparations and were that they would find Charmander and Chikorita because they grew fond of the duo for their cheerful nature.

"Guildmaster, I have some misgivings about this idea of yours," Skuntank began. "Why has everyone got to participate, what is the point?" Skuntank asked bluntly.

"There is a point, and that is to have as much fun as possible and we'll be loud and noisy and have lots of fun," Wigglytuff said with a grin on his face.

"Whose gonna look after the guild," Skuntank asked hoping to stop Wigglytuff from letting Team Drive go on the expedition.

"That's an easy one, one of Charmander's friends Piplup has kindly offered to look after the guild herself, isn't that right," Wigglytuff said to Piplup who had just walked into the room and was looking sad when she found out that Charmander and Chikorita were missing. Truthfully she was more concerned for Charmander than for Chikorita.

_"I don't like seeing you sad Charmander,"_ she thought. _"I hope I'll see you soon."_

**Meanwhile with Charmander and Chikorita**

"I thought for sure that we would make the expedition party and go on the journey," Chikorita said sobbing.

"I thought so too, but like I say, we gotta think positive and put the past behind us, and we'll keep moving forward," Charmander said trying to cheer up Chikorita.

"Yeah you're right," Chikorita said who stopped sobbing and cleaned her face of the tears. "I guess all we can do now is just do these jobs and maybe we'll get to go on the next expedition that the guild has," Chikorita added as they headed out.

Since all the hard jobs they had on them were in Lush Prairie, they went there and three outlaws, found two items for Pokemon, and rescued one two. They made it to the end and gazed at the scenery.

"Wow," Chikorita said in awe.

"Hey, Chikorita," Charmander asked.

"Hmm?" she replied and Charmander pulled out a ruby red necklace and holds it out to Chikorita.

"Charmander, where did you get that?" Chikorita asked staring at the ruby centerpiece.

"Take it, its for you," Charmander said. "I wanted to cheer you up and this was when you needed support the most," he added thoughtfully.

"Really?" she said happily accepting the gift and put around her neck.

"How do I look," she asked blushing.

"Great," Charmander said enthusiastically.

"I think that we should probably head back since everyone will probably be gone, we'll have to look after the guild," Charmander said.

When they got back to the guild Charmander was right when no one would be there and they got their rewards of a bunch of gummis and a couple of Max Elixirs.

"Well since there's no one here, wanna go check out Spinda's Cafe?" Charmander asked clearly hating himself for making Chikorita sad. She nodded and they headed of to the cafe and Charmander handed over a red gummi for himself and a grass gummi for his partner and Spinda made some more delicious juice. They found a table and drank their respective drinks. They were awfully quiet and not uttering a word to each other and when they finished they checked their glasses in case it said "WINNER" on the bottom and neither of them did. Charmander and Chikorita hardly cared about that but they avoided the guild all day much to the worry of all the apprentices and had started looking around Treasure Town having no clue about Spinda's Cafe.

Chikorita showed Charmander Sharpedo bluff and Charmander suggested that they slept here tonight to which Chikorita readily agreed. Charmander climbed up the tree and sat on one of its lower branches and fell asleep while Chikorita followed suit at the base of the tree.

"Aha, there you are," said a voice that startled Chikorita and she immediately got into a fighting stance.

"Who are you, show yourself," she yelled into the darkness and out of the darkness came Corphish.

"What the heck are you doing here?" Chikorita asked "Why aren't you out on the expedition?" she added looking confused.

"I will answer your questions once Charmander shows up," he replied "Where is he anyway?" he asked her. She fell anime style, sighed and pointed at the tree that they were at and Corphish called him down which reluctantly complied.

"What's up Corphish," Charmander said sitting on one of the lowest branches do the best he could to sound cheerful and keep a cheerful face for Corphish.

"Well, you two left the guild before Chatot could announce that you two are going on the expedition as well, and we decided that we would leave tomorrow 1) we needed time to stock up on supplies and 2) the guildmaster didn't want to leave anyone behind so that's why we waited and we were worried about you," Corphish explained. 'Where have you been," he asked.

"Well," Charmander said jumping down from the tree to join Chikorita with his arms crossed "We defeated three outlaws, found two items for Pokemon, and resceued two Pokemon as well," he replied leaving out the necklace becasue that would be wierd, "After that we went to Spinda's Cafe and got a couple of drinks, then Chikorita showed me this place and I thought it might be cool to sleep in the trees and that's what we did until you came," Charmander finished his explanation.

"Well, I guess we can now go on the expedition with everyone else," Chikorita said "We have to be grateful for that, thanks Corphish," she added smiling at him with Charmander following suit.

"Oh yeah, Charmander just a question," Corphish asked.

"Fire away," Charmander asked as Chikorita danced with him "ring around the rosie" style.

"Why do you wear that crown?" he asked.

"The same reason that Chikorita wears the defense scarf or you wearing you stamina band," he said gesturing towards the Stamina band on Corphish's head.

"I see, that's why," he replied.

**Back at the Guild:**

"Hey everybody," Chikorita said looking around to see smiling faces look at them looking quite pleased at their arrival with the exception of Team Skull who looked simply furious.

"Where were you," Piplup asked looking worried.

"Piplup, we were doing our regular exploration work because we thought that we weren't chosen to go on the expedition in the first place and more importantly, what are YOU doing here?" Charmander asked arms crossed and hastily put away his crown to avoid annoying questions from Piplup, Team Skull, Chatot and the Guild Members.

"I offered Wigglytuff my help by looking after the guild while you guys where out on the expedition," Piplup explained while Chikorita sweatdropped.

"Okay then, anyway what now?" Chikorita asked turning to the group.

"Well we can't leave tomorrow so we'll leave the day after tomorrow so you can prepare yourselves by getting your items and maybe get some training in before you go," Chatot said.

"Thanks you guys," Charmander said as they ate dinner and went to bed later that night.

**The Next Day:**

Charmander and Chikorita woke and found everyone else sleeping in, having done what they needed to do the previous day. As they left the guild they noticed another flyer saying that there was another tournament being held at the training site that day. Charmander put on his crown and Chikorita put on her necklace and her defense scarf. Piplup decided to join them much to Chikorita's displeasure.

"Okay, what should we do first?" Charmander asked the two girls and they both thought that they should get some training in first and they all headed for the training site where the tournament would take place.

"Hey I see that your here to compete in the tournament we have for today," Machoke said.

"I wouldn't be here if I wasn't competing," Charmander said with a grin on his face. "Is it okay if we compete in the three on three division this time around?" Charmander asked.

"Yeah sure," Machoke said handing the trio a form which they filled out and handed back to Machoke and went to the ring to take on the first opponent.

"The rules are different for this one," Machoke said.

"Really?' Piplup asked. "How so?"

"Well normally there are ten rounds but since we're a little dry on Pokemon, this one will be five rounds but instead they work like this: the first three rounds are one on one where each of you will take on a seperate foe on your own. The semi-finals are two on two in other words two of you will be working as a pair and the finals is where all three Pokemon will compete three on three style with best two out of three, Charmander, since this is your third tournament, you can't compete in the semi-finals this time around," Machoke said apologetically.

"Aww, man, but its fine, after all rules are rules," Charmander said looking a little disappointed.

"Since Charmander can't compete in the semi-finals, I say we let him go first," Piplup suggested.

"I second that notion," Chikorita said pushing Charmander in the ring.

"Okay then," Charmander said sweatdropping and faced his opponent which was a Golbat and he remembered Zubat and got angry.

'Begin!" Machoke yelled but Charmander already defeated his opponent and gave off a victory pose and Golbat was knocked out with scorched marks in the shape of fangs on the wings.

"Wow, that was quick," Piplup said looking completely stunned as she stared at Charmander

"I didn't know he could finish off his opponents that fast before," Chikorita said looking thoroughly surprised.

Charmander walked back looking quite pleased with himself and high fived Chikorita saying "It's your turn, good luck," and she winked at him telling him everything will be just fine and that they'll proceed to the third round. Chikorita faced her opponent and it was a Weezing. She too looked very angry remembring what Koffing did to her and Charmander back in Apple Woods.

"Begin!" Machoke yelled but just like Charmander Chikorita defeated her opponent by grabbing a hold of him using vine whip and threw him to the ground repeatedly and then finished it off with a powerful body slam which was even more powerful because she was in midair and did more damage than normal and she too also gave a victory pose as Weezing was knocked out with whip marks on his face.

"Wow," Piplup and Charmander said staring at Chikorita in stunned disbelief as Chikorita reverted to her cheerful personality.

"Wow Chikorita," Charmander said looking deeply impressed. "I didn't think that you had it in you to pull that stunt off," he said grinning.

"Thanks Charmander," Chikorita said blushing from the compliment.

Piplup noticed this and didn't like it one bit.

"Piplup, you okay," Charmander asked looking worried.

"Yeah I'm okay just psyched for my turn," she said as she high fived Charmander and then Chikorita and headed for the ring where she faced a Monferno who was ready to fight.

"You can do this, Piplup," Charmander called from his seat and Piplup blushed deeply from the praise Charmander was giving her and she got into a stance ready for battle and her blush starting to fade away.

"Begin!" Machoke yelled and Monferno started things off with a flame wheel which Piplup dodged with a graceful spin and Monferno got frustrated and did again and she dodged it with ease and she fired a bubblebeam and Monferno slid back a few feet but was still standing strong and he used Mach Punch which was a direct hit on her back.

"THAT'S IT," Piplup shrieked and started comboing Monferno with Drill Peck until he fainted and like her two teammates before her she also gave off a victory pose while Monferno was behind her knocked out and had peck marks on his arms and chest.

"Wow Piplup, that was awesome for your first battle, if I didn't know any better I would have thought that you do this kind of thing all the time," Charmander said while Piplup blushed from all of Charmander's praise.

"T-thanks Charmander," Piplup said stuttering slightly.

"I guess you and Piplup are gonna be competing together in the semi-finals," Charmander said turning his attention to Chikorita who nodded though not entirely thrilled about having Piplup as her partner but there was nothing that she could do about it and then thought _"How DARE you try to steal Charmander away from me," _she thought coldly.

They both walked into the ring and fought and defeated the defending team of Phanpy and Snowrunt in record time. Piplup used whirlpool to take down Snowrunt and Chikorita easily defeated Phanpy with her Razor leaf.

"Wow, I'm sure glad that my best friends are really amazing fighters," Charmander said to himself as he got up and joined his two allies for the final round of the tournament.

It was Charmander, Chikorita, and Piplup vs. Pikachu, Totodile, and Quilava.

"Ready? Begin!" Machoke yelled. Chikorita took on Pikachu, Piplup and Totodile were at it and that left Charmander and Quilava to fight each other.

Pikachu started things off by using Quick attack on Chikorita. She timed vine whip so that she could jump and dodge the attack and then grabbed Pikachu and threw it into the air and used Magical leaf as a follow up and it was a direct hit and was a critical hit as well. Pikachu managed to land a thunderbolt on Chikorita and then followed up with a Volt Tackle and was a direct hit and Chikorita was getting pretty tired but thankfully Chikorita was a grass type and electric type moves didn't do as much damage on her. She mannaged to shake of the paralysis for a while and kept fighting and eventually defeated Pikachu.

Chikorita gave off a victory pose and cheered.

Piplup and Totodile were only using physical attacks. Totodile was using bite and Piplup was using peck repeatedly. Piplup switched gears by firing a bubblebeam towards the ground and gave her some air on Totodile and she fired another bubblebeam, which was a direct hit and then she finished with Drill Peck and won that match. She also did a victory pose and cheered.

Charmander and Quilava were locked in an intense struggle and both of his friends were cheering for him and he replied with a grin as forced Quilava back by using his Iron Tail and then countered it with the same came in with a Quick Attack and knocking Charmander into the air. Charmander quickly recovered and used the fall to add power to his Brick Break, which was a direct hit and then used Flamethrower as a finisher that knocked Quilava out. Charmander high fived Chikorita and Piplup and did a victory pose together as Machoke approached them with 2000 poke and three ribbons; one each for Charmander, Chikorita, and Piplup. Machoke handed Charmander the Silver Cup but asked Machoke to keep it for them next to the Crystal Cup and he put it in a glass case next to the crystal one.

They left the tournament arena looking very satisfied and they went to Treasure Town and deposited the money that they won in the bank. They put in some excess items that they were carrying and took out some apples, Oran berries and eyedrop seeds.

They then went back to the guild and Charmander gave Piplup her ribbon, which she put on her head. Charmander gave Chikorita her ribbon and she put it on her neck. Charmander took his ribbon and wore it like a diagonal sash. They had dinner and went to bed.

**Looks like Team Drive was able to go on the expedition the whole time, they were just being crazy fools and didn't know it until someone told them.**


	10. Expedition Pt 1

**Hey you guys I'm back and have the 10****th**** chapter for the story. Read and Review.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters.**

Chapter 10

Chikorita and Charmander woke up the next morning to find Piplup there beaming at the pair of them (More Charmander than Chikorita) with two Oran berries in hand and handed them to Charmander who handed one to Chikorita who thanked Charmander ate the berry and the trio headed off for the briefing.

"Ahem," Chatot said as everyone settled down so that they could hear the plan of attack.

"Our purpose of the expedition is to find and explore Fogbound lake, there are rumors that there is a treasure of great value there that awaits discovery," Chatot said.

"Since so many of us will be going on the expedition, the guildmaster and I have agreed that we will all divide into groups because if we all went in at once, mobility would be severely restricted and would slow us all down from getting to our goal," Chatot said.

"The first group will consist of Loudred, Sunflora, Croagunk, and Diglett," Chatot said.

"You better not slow me down," Loudred said.

"You're one to talk," Sunflora said coldly while Diglett and Croakgunk merely sweatdropped at the two's arguement.

"The next group is Chimecho, Dugtrio, and Corphish," Chatot said.

"All right, we're a solid group," Dugtrio said with a confident grin on his face.

"I'll do my best and not let anyone down," Chimecho said looking and feeling confident in herself.

"The Guildmaster and I will travel as a pair, yes?" Chatot said.

"Aww, I have to with Chatot that's so booring," Wigglytuff said.

"Please, this is a key element in our secret strategy," Chatot said looking nervously at the guildmaster.

"Team Skull will travel independently of us, as their own seperate group," Chatot said looking at Team Skull.

"Understood," Skuntank said.

"The final group is Chikorita, Bidoof and Charmander," Chatot said looking at the three that were left.

"I guess, I'm with you guys," Bidoof said coming over to them.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see what kind of adventure we're gonna go on," Charmander said looking excited at the prospect of going on the expedition.

Everyone left the guild except Piplup who gave Charmander a hug and he blushed a little feeling a bit embarrased but Chikorita looked as though she would love nothing more than to attack Piplup with her Vine Whip.

Blush disappearing, Charmander, Chikorita, and Bidoof headed for the training camp that they all agreed to meet after leaving the guild.

Bidoof made sure to eat as many gummis as he could, Charmander and Chikorita handed him their white gummis saying that they would help him more than them and Bidoof gladly ate them and the duo laughed at their hungry friend.

They were walking and they finally came to a coast.

"Wow, look at these cliffs, Charmander," Chikorita said.

"Wow," Charmander said looking around in awe.

"This must be one of those Kangaskhan rocks that I've heard of," Bidoof said, examining the statue.

"A Kangaskhan Rock?" Chikorita said looking at the rock confused.

"Yeah, I've heard that you can take out and put in items, and deposit money, it is quite a useful rock," Bidoof said finishing his explanation.

"Wow, that's really cool," Chikorita said looking amazed. Chikorita looked at the opening and noted that there were two paths one label Craggy Coast and the other lableled, Rock path.

_"Chikorita is acting much more like a leader, I guess I never noticed it before,_" Charmander thought to himself.

"Charmander, which way should we go?" Chikorita asked Charmander, which shook him out of his thoughts as he examined the two signs.

"Let's go through Craggy Coast," Charmander suggested.

"Okay, let's go," Bidoof said.

They explored the area and were immediately grateful that they had done all that training back during all those training sessions at the coliseum because they got powered up really quickly.

"Look at those," Charmander whispered pointing to four chests; all of which were really big.

"Okay," Charmander said spinning his tail and bringing it down on the lids to reveal a bunch of white gummis that Bidoof promptly ate. There were healing items in the second chest, there were status boosters in the third chest and the fourth chest they found a bunch of armor and accessories.

They proceeded through the rest of Craggy Coast without much trouble and defeating the water types that lay inside despite the type disadvantage Charmander had, he was still kicking butt.

"We made it to the base of the mountain," Bidoof said panting and his stomach growling

"Yeah, I think we should spend the night here," Chikorita suggested also panting and her stomach also growling.

"ARE, YOU KIDDING ME?" Charmander shouted and everyone looked surprised "I could climb five more mountains without breaking a sweat," he said looking around impatiently and his stomach didn't growl at all.

"Let's just rest for the night," Chikorita snapped.

"Fine, I'll see you at the base camp," Charmander said heading for Mount Horn.

"You are NOT leaving Bidoof and me behind," Chikorita growled and Bidoof just sweatdropped as Chikorita whacked Charmander on the head with her leaf.

"We're supposed to stay in a group, Charmander," Bidoof said.

"You know what? Skip this," and Charmander picked up Chikorita and Bidoof and much to Chikorita's and Bidoof's surprise lifted them off their feet. Chikorita may have been a little ticked off but she was also blushing deeply and feeling really smug knowing that her lover... er I mean her partner had never done this with Piplup in her experience of being in their exploration team and she'll be as jealous as heck when she finds out.

"CHARGE," Charmander yelled at the top of his voice as he dashed to the mountain before either Bidoof and Chikorita could make a protest, Charmander dashed up the mountain. Eventually, Bidoof and Chikorita sighed, gave into fate, and enjoyed the ride.

Since Charmander was so fast, they made up the mountain in a little over five minutes and then ran to the other side in under ten minutes.

It was still sometime early in the afternoon when the trio arrived at the base camp to find that absolutely no one was there "HEY EVERYBODY, WE'RE HERE," Charmander yelled at the top of his voice looking around to find that there is nothing here. _Why do I have the feeling that I've been here before? _Charmander asked himself.

"What's going on," Charmander asked as he put down Chikorita and then Bidoof.

"I dunno, do you think that it could be possible that we are the first ones to make it to the camp?" Chikorita asked frowning.

"I think so," Charmander said looking confused.

They set up their respective tents and retreated inside to talk and rest. Chikorita and Charmander were talking while Bidoof was taking a nap in his own tent.

"Well, what should we do?" Chikorita asked Charmander.

"I dunno, we can just hang out together," Charmander suggested.

Chikorita blushed and smiled at him.

"You never did answer my question," Charmander said suddenly.

"What are you talking about," Chikorita said confused.

"Why were you blushing," Charmander asked bluntly.

"Oh, that well..." Chikorita said, her voice abandoning her.

"Well?" Charmander asked, curiosity mounting.

"Well I-," Chikorita began but as she was about to explain, Bidoof burst into saying that the Guildmaster and Chatot had just arrived.

"Okay, let's go," Charmander said getting up and heading for the exit completely disregarding the subject that they were talking about before Bidoof burst into the tent.

Chikorita breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't ready to tell him anything about that day apart from what he already knew because she was still confused about her feelings for him. When other female pokemon made flirting related gestures why'd she get so jealous and angry? Was it because she had a crush or was it something more?

"Chikorita, you aren't gonna stay in there forever, are you?" Charmander asked stepping inside the tent to find Chikorita looking confused.

"I don't get it," she said.

"Don't get what?" Charmander asked looking confused.

"Why WAS I blushing before, I don't know why but I need time to sort it out," Chikorita said. "C'mon, we should greet the others," she added as she led the way out of the tent.

"Okay," Charmander said slowly following her and started up a conversation with Corphish.

"So how was the journey?" Charmander asked.

"Arceus, that was the hardest thing I've ever done," Corphish said sitting down and was catching his breath. "What about you?" Corphish asked Charmander who grinned and said:

"Arceus, it was so easy even with a disadvantage but Chikorita and Bidoof were a little slow and I decided to carry them here because it would be faster," Charmander said to a stunned Corphish. "The alternate option being that we spend the night in the mountains and I really wanted to check out the base camp before we moved forward and I would hate to be the last one to arrive," Charmander said finishing his story with a grin on his face.

"I take it you three were the first here then?" Corphish asked to Charmander who merely nodded in response.

"Alright, everyone since everyone is tired, I say that we start exploring this region tomorrow, so make sure you are well prepared," Chatot said pointing to the Kangaskhan Rock that was sitting near the entrance to Foggy Forest.

Everyone had dinner of cooked Oran berries corteousy of Charmander who had started a camp fire and they were all eating the Oran berries with gusto. They bid farewell with each other and went to their respective tents.

"What do you think we'll find," Chikorita asked.

"I dunno but I hope it'll be something that is awe-inspring," Charmander said while he was in a daze.

"Charmander, don't zone out on me like that," Chikorita said looking sad.

"I'm sorry," Charmander said giving her a hug, which she was quick to return and she started blushing yet again.

"Well I guess that's it," Charmander said going to his bed and getting comfotable.

"Charmander I-" Chikorita began but stopped as she heard snores from Charmander's bed to find him fast asleep. Chikorita smiled at him and went to her bed and fell asleep a few seconds later.

The next day, everyone gathered for the strategy briefing and Chimecho made a reference to a being called Uxie that is said to remove memories of people that find this place and thus muzzling them from revealing its wherabouts.

"Of course this was to expected a place shrouded in this much mystery," Chatot said looking unfazed by the new piece of information, Charmander on the other hand had started to panic when he heard that Uxie could take away memories.

_"Is that why I don't remember anything?" _He wondered to himself.

They all left and as Chikorita and Charmander headed out Chikorita spotted something that was in the shape of a pyramid and it felt warm and decided to keep for later.

They explored Foggy Forest and to Charmander's pleasure that there weren't as many water types in here than in Craggy Coast.

Charmander led the way up and defeated any enemies on the way as well as open the treasure chests that were lying around.

"I can't believe no one's tried to open these chests," Charmander said holding a bunch of items and accessories.

"I know, I guess you are something special," Chikorita said blushing.

'Thanks for the compliement," Charmander said and gave her a high five.

They made it to the end and found a statue of some Pokemon.

Chikorita, being able to read footprint runes was able to decifer that the statue was that of a Groudon and then they met up with Corphish who was having as much trouble as they were trying to figure out the importance of the statue.

"Hey, Charmander I got an idea," Chikorita said suddenly.

"What is it?" Charmander asked.

"What about your visions," Chikorita suggested.

_I was thinking that to, all the answers to who I was truly before my memories were removed could lie right here. Its worth a shot _he thought to himself and he touched it and starting to rub it. Then he had a vision, a voice saying: _I see right here. _

_What? _Charmander thought looking bewildered but another vision came to him in the same form and in the same voice and it said: _I see, place the drought stone in Groudon's heart and that lifts the fog, nice job partner._

"Did you see something, Charmander?" Chikorita said looking confused.

"Yeah, you know that stone you found at base camp?" Charmander asked and she nodded in response.

"Put that stone into Groudon's heart," he said simply.

"Okay," Chikorita said putting the stone in the statue's heart and then the eyes flashed and became enveloped in light. The trio made a run for it and saw that the fog had been lifted.

"Wow," Charmander looking at the lake up ahead.

"Hey-hey-hey, looks like the fog has been lifted, I'm gonna go back a tell the guild, you guys go on ahead," Corphish said running to the guild.

"Gotcha," Chikorita said. They both made to leave the area and move ahead but they heard words that were uncomfortably familiar.

"Good job weaklings, Chaw-haw-haw, that's as far as you'll go," Skuntank said stopping the duo from going further.

"You again?!" Charmander said looking irritated. "Look, I was having a good time and then you had to go and ruin it, you idiots," he said angrily.

"Like I care," Zubat said coldly.

"Get out of my way," Chikorita said angrily.

"You can do whatever you want, but it won't change a thing," Koffing said coldly.

They all got into stances ready for battle and Koffing and Skuntank prepared the noxious special combo. They fired and this one was much more potent.

**I thought that I'd cut of the chapter here. I've always wanted to do a cliffhanger and now I have. So here's my question: Fight scene or intervention? Tell me in a PM (If you have an account) or in a review. If you are anonomous, don't worry, I don't plan on blocking anonomous reviews because only my friends who don't want an account would review my stories like that. The sooner you guys give me my feedback, the sooner I'll type up and upload the next chapter.**


	11. Pt 2 vs Team Skull AGAIN

**Well thanks you guys for reviewing and I talked to my classmates and they recommended that I do a fight scene so that's what I'm gonna do. Thanks you guys for your awesome suggestions. Remember the more reviews I get the faster I update.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters because if I did then I wouldn't be writing Fanfiction.**

Chapter 11

Skuntank and Koffing their noxious gas special combo and Chikorita used reflect to block out the smell. "Is that all you got?" Skuntank sneered as Team Drive sweatdropped at Team Skull's stupidity.

"You've done NO damage to us," Charmander said impatiently.

"You don't stand a chance because we are way more powerful than you think," Zubat said proudly.

"You are gonna lose!" Skuntank said.

*Cue dramatic music* (13th reflection plays).

Skuntank fired a sludge bomb which was a direct hit and was a critical hit.

"Darn it," Charmander said swearing under his breath. "I guess that they did get more powerful after all," he said.

They were quick to follow up with shadow balls which Charmander guarded with his tail and Chikorita used reflect to block them. Charmander quickly jumped and hit Skuntank with an Iron Tail.

Zubat attacked Chikorita with wing attack. She dodged them but she failed to counter because Zubat was just too fast for her. She then timed her vine whip and successfully grabbed Zubat and threw him to the ground. Chikorita was quick to follow up with a magical leaf with a body slam finish. Zubat was KO'd and that was one down and two to go.

Charmander was up against Koffing and Skuntank but was forced to dodge their noxious gas special combos but he then had an idea, jump over it and do a spinning Iron Tail, he did just that and Koffing took the blow for Skuntank.

"You're pathetic," Skuntank said coldly to Koffing, Chikorita, and Charmander.

"You're the only one left!" Charmander said in stunned disbelief, having just knocked out Koffing who had just tried to protect his leader. It was the sort of thing that Chikorita would do for him and he would do the same for her.

Skuntank responded to this by firing a barrage of flamethrowers. Half of them hit Chikorita but they didn't do as much damage thanks to the defense scarf but she still fainted.

**(Yes I know that it increases defense, but I'm also gonna make it increase special defense for this chapter, or any other chapters that I feel it neccesary).**

It was like a re-run of what happened in Apple Woods, only this Skuntank used Chikorita as a floormat and Charmander was really tired.

"HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO MY BEST FRIEND," Charmander snarled.

"Hmph, try and stop me," Skuntank said coldly.

Charmander did just that, he went completely berserk and he was enveloped in fiery aura that surrounded as he just knocked Skuntank in the air and combo'd him with a powerful Aerial Finish in the form of a Brick Break.

*13th reflection stops playing*

Charmander landed on his feet, as did Skuntank both of them were tired. Suddenly, a perfect apple appeared out of nowhere and Wigglytuff in hot pursuit.

"I gotcha, my perfect apple, if my perfect apple went away from me, I would..." Wigglytuff said tears welling up in his eyes as Charmander, and Team Skull sweatdropped.

"Oh you, and my friends too, we're all together again, yay, yay!" he cheered as Charmander and Team Skull sweatdropped.

"Guildmaster, could you help us?" Charmander asked looking desperate.

Wigglytuff stopped cheering, examined Chikorita and told him that they should move ahead and that he should give her Oran berries and Rawst berries. Wigglytuff handed them a bag full of them and Charmander thanked him gratefully and he carried Chikorita in a piggyback to proceed.

"Guildmaster, I think that we should get going too," Skuntank said, clearly not wanting to lose to those pathetic weaklings in the race for the treasure.

"What!! No, I can't trouble my guests like that, we'll let those two do the exploring and we'll wait for their report," he said "I hope we get some good news he added as he started to sing "la-la-la-la-la-la-la-la," he sang, looking as though he was having the time of his life.

"Boss, what do we do?" Koffing muttered to Skuntank.

"Yeah boss, this guy is creeping me out," Zubat said, agreeing with Koffing.

"Shut up, both of you," Skuntank said as the other two flinched.

"Why are you making such scary faces ?" Wigglytuff asked looking somewhat confused at what was going on. "I get it, you guys are trying to make me laugh, well I bet I can make you laugh too," he said making weird faces at the trio.

Again, Team Skull sweatdropped and Koffing and Skuntank silently started to activate the noxious gas pecial combo.

"Hey Wigglytuff," Skuntank said looking smug.

"Wh-whatis-what is it?" he asked, still making funny faces at the trio.

"No hard feelings, but this a noxious gas special combo, straight from me and Koffing," Skuntank said with a cruel smirk on his face.

"The great explorer Wigglytuff is finished, chaw-haw-haw," Skuntank said.

**Meanwhile, with Chikorita and Charmander:**

Charmander arrived as Steam Cave and was waiting for Chikorita to wake up and it didn't take long either because minutes after they had arrived there, Chikorita's eyes snapped open and Charmander fed her some Oran berries, and gave her some Rawst Berries for her burns. The feeding was something that Chikorita blushed about, Charmander noticed but shrugged it off thinking that it was hot in the area and that fire type Pokemon were the only one's whose faces wouldn't turn red upon entering.

"C'mon, Chikorita, we'd better get to the top of this cave," Charmander said heading for the entrance.

"Hey, wait for me," Chikorita said running and trying to keep up with him.

They entered Steam Cave and what became immediately obvious was that there would be many fire-types, something Chikorita did not have much experience in fighting. Thankfully, Charmander noted this too and took on the fire types while she dealt with the other types that were there. They rotated so that they could all gain some valuable experience out of this and they learned quite a bit about type techniques.

At some point in the cave, Charmander realized that he hadn't told Chikorita about the feelings that he had for this place and suddenly stopped walking. Chikorita who noticed stopped walking too so he could catch up.

"Charmander, something wrong," she asked looking worried about him.

"Yeah, there is something that I have to tell you," Charmander said.

"Well, what is it?" Chikorita asked with her head cocked in confusion.

"I've had this feeling ever since we arrived at base camp, like actually knew the place even though I haven't been here before," Charmander admitted to a stunned Chikorita.

"I am starting to wonder if Uxie has anything to do with this," Charmander added.

"Well, if that's the case, then all the more reason to get to the top," Chikorita said cheerfully.

"Let's go-," Chikorita said but broke off suddenly as she heard a roar up ahead.

"What's wrong?" Charmander said frowning.

"Did you just hear a roar," she asked as the being roared again.

"Yeah, I just heard it, we'd better get moving quickly," Charmander said, looking grim.

They healed themselves and headed for the summit of the cave. They finally made it to the top and found nothing there.

"I thought for sure, that there would be something there because of the roar," Charmander said looking around. Suddenly in a flash of light a giant red Pokemon appeared.

"Who are you?" Charmander asked looking incredibly annoyed.

"I AM GROUDON, GUARDING OF FOGBOUND LAKE," said Groudon.

**Meanwhile back at the base of Steam Cave:**

"Are you sure that you saw the guildmaster come through here, Corphish?" Chatot asked looking skeptical.

"I'll told you, I was running to base camp to tell you guys about Chikorita's and Charmander's discovery when I saw him in hot pursuit of a perfect apple, I tried to call on him but he was gone before I got a chance," Corphish finished.

"I see," Chatot said who was deep in thought.

"Did you here something?" Sunflora asked.

"It sounds like a roar," Loudred said.

"Do you guys feel the ground shaking?" Diglett asked looking nervous.

"Yeah, I feel it," Dugtrio said frowning and they all headed towards Steam Cave, Diglett was sure that he heard something else, like moaning.

"What is that?" Diglett muttered.

"C'mon Diglett, we gotta catch up to Charmander and Chikorita," Loudred called him.

Diglett shrugged it off and left.

"Chatot, what do you know about Groudon?" Corphish asked.

"Of course I know quite a lot about Groudon, what do you take me for, an idiot?" Chatot demanded while Corphish just sweatdropped.

"Well anyway, Groudon is a powerful Pokemon that resides over the power over land," Chatot explained.

"What would happen if you faced Groudon in battle?" Corphish asked.

"In battle? It is suicide, he's that powerful, just like any other legendary Pokemon," Chatot said.

**Back with Team Drive:**

"I'm scared," Chikorita said while Groudon approached.

"I can't run away now, we gotta face this together," Chikorita said as they both prepared for battle.

"IF YOU WON'T LEAVE WILLINGLY, THEN I'LL DO BY FORCE," Groudon said.

"Bring it on," Charmander said looking nervous but excited.

The battle began with Groudon moving at speed that neither of them thought was possible and used slash. They both jumped this and countered with Iron tail and Magical Leaf. They both did a fair bit of damage.

Groudon used bulk up and his strength and defense grew, they could see the power coming from him and he used is powers to attack using rocks. They had to dodge his three-hit combo in order to get a chance at attacking him at all, let alone getting a full combo.

Charmander guarded Groudon's latest attempt at attacking them with his tail and then counters it by sliding up to him and hitting with brick break. Groudon was stunned and this was Chikorita and Charmander's chance to fight back. They unleashed a full combo of Magical leaf and Iron Tails.

Groudon powered up again and Charmander noticed that every time Groudon powered up, he would get slower and that made it easier to dodge his attacks.

Groudon jumped into the air and tried to ram into them, luckily they both rolled out of the way just in time so that they could combo him one last time and that finished him.

"How'd you like that," Charmander said raising a fist in the air looking quite pleased with himself. Chikorita also cheered looking pleased with herself as well.

"Well, it looks like you've defeated my Groudon," a voice said.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Charmander said looking around as a flash of white light appeared and there floated a Pokemon with a yellow head and blue body and its eyes closed.

"Hello there, my name is Uxie," the being said.

"Wow," Chikorita said.

"We only came here for information," Chikorita said hastily.

"Really?" Uxie said sceptically.

"Yeah, well the real truth is that we're an exploration team and that we'd really like to leave with some sort of treasure after all the work that we went through to get here," Charmander said, "But we'll be happy to tell everyone that we made it this far, that's good enough," he added hastily.

"Well, alright then I believe you," Uxie said finally.

"Let me welcome you then, I am Uxie, the guardian of Fogbound Lake, I will show it to you" he said as he escorted him to Fogbound lake. Charmander and Chikorita were careful not to look into Uxie's eyes not wanting their memories erased.

"We won't tell anyone about this, we promise," Charmander said solemnly and Uxie nodded his approval.

"Very good, now follow me and look at Fogbound Lake," Uxie said. They did so and it was night time already.

"Whoa," Charmander said stunned at the view of the area. "Wooooww," They both said in unison and Uxie merely grinned at their disbelief at the sight. The Volbeat and Illumise were light dots above the water and there was also a huge waterfall and there is a pale green light at the center.

"What's that?" Charmander asked, pointing at the light.

"That is a time gear," Uxie said.

'That's a time gear?!" Chikorita said shocked.

"_I don't get it,"_Charmander thought looking confused. "_Why does my pulse start to race every time I look at it, why does it stir me up so much?"_ he wondered to himself.

"I guard the Time Gear here, that is my sole purpose for being here, my Groudon illusion chases most of the trespassers off, however there are a few that do make it to this spot, but they were trespassers so I took away their memories,"

"Groudon illusion, how do you do that?" Chikorita asked.

"By using my psychic abilities, like so," he said as a Groudon appeared and startled the duo.

"Don't worry, it is a mere illusion, and like I said before, there are those who have defeated it and have made to this spot, but like I said before, they were trespassers so I took away their memories thus keeping the secret of this place hidden," Uxie finished.

"Hey that reminds me," Charmander said. "Uxie, you're not gonna believe this but, I lost all of my memories, all I remembered was the fact that I was human, I couldn't remember who I was, where I was from, how I got here or anything else," Charmander added.

"What, a human? Are you sure?" Uxie asked in stunned disbelief.

"Yeah," Charmander said.

"I just don't know," Uxie said. "I do know one thing, and that is that I had nothing to do with Charmander's memory loss or his transformation into a Pokemon, the cause lies elsewhere," Uxie said. "I should explain that I can only remove memories of Fogbound Lake, I can not erase ALL memories of a being be they human or Pokemon, good or bad," he finished.

"I see," Chikorita said. "I'm still glad we came because this is the most _romantic _thing I've seen," she said with a smile looking at Charmander who was staring at the sight in front of him in awe.

"A Time Gear, well we can't take that. Aww oh well," said a voice. The trio spun around to find Wigglytuff greeting Uxie and even the Groudon illusion.

"Whose that?" Uxie asked.

"Oh, this our guildmaster," Chikorita said making introductions between the two.

"Hi friend," he said warmly to Uxie who merely nodded back. The guild members burst into the room and saw the Groudon and they all started to panic until they saw the guildmaster and Team Drive standing there looking at the view.

"Lookie, pretty pretty," Wigglytuff said.

"HUH?!" everyone said looking confused. Charmander pointed at the view and they all looked surprised.

"Wow, I guess we didn't learn anything about your past Charmander but I'm still glad we came," Chikorita said feeling grateful that it was night otherwise everyone would have noticed that she was blushing slightly.

"Yeah, me too," Charmander said.

"Sorry to bother you like this friend, had a great time," Wigglytuff said to Uxie.

"Please don't tell anyone about what you saw here, especially the time gear," Uxie said.

'It goes without saying, that time gears are disappearing so its important that this remains a secret, I promise in the name of Wigglytuff's guild that we will not reveal anything from this journey," Wigglytuff said solemnly.

"I will hold you to that promise," Uxie said glancing around at everyone who was completely silent.

"Well, we better head back," Chatot said and they all left to go back to the guild.

_I wonder what Piplup's doing right now?_ Charmander thought to himself.


	12. A Famous Celebrity?

**Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter and I hope you guys review this one just like shining4charizard reviewed my last time. Enough of my pointless rambling; on with the story! Read and Review.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters. I DO own the modified plot and personalities of the characters. **

Chapter 12:

Charmander and Chikorita were asleep at the guild having gotten back from the expedition late the previous night.

Loudred came in to find the duo asleep and yelled really loud to wake them up. Like this: "HEY YOU TWO! GET YOUR BUTTS OUTTA BED, ITS MORNING," Loudred yelled at the top of his voice. Charmander and Chikorita were in bed but they were completely stunned.

"Ow, my ears feel like they've been blasted," Chikorita said rubbing her ears.

"It has certainly been awhile since we were woken up like that," Charmander agreed feeling somewhat dizzy. "Look at the dancing marshmallow," he said because he was so tired and dizzy. Chikorita giggled at his response because it was so funny.

They made it to the entrance hall and they only had to wait a few seconds for the guildmaster to arrive so they went through the briefing and refreshed everyone's memories about what they were doing today.

"Time to get to work," Chatot cheered.

"HOORAY!" they all cheered in unison, and they all left to do their respective duties.

"I guess we'll have to get use to our daily work schedule again," Chikorita said.

"C'mon, we better hurry so we can grab some jobs," Charmander said as they climbed the ladder that revealed two billboards one for outlaws and another for rescue and exploration requests. They took a few of both and set off for the respective dungeons.

The dungeons they went to today were: Mt. Horn, Craggy Coast, Apple Woods, and Lush Prairie. They defeated three outlaws, rescued two Pokemon, and went exploring with two other Pokemon. They still had time to kill before dinner so they agreed to have a little "play date" and go to the beach. Since Charmander didn't want to die because of the flame on it's tail, he decided to stay out of the water. Of course, this didn't stop either of them from going in the shallow area where they just splashed each other. They got tired and headed back to the land and Charmader started to build a sand castle. Chikorita joined him and they built a very nice, small castle.

(If your wondering what it looks like google Castle Oblivion).

"That was so much fun," Chikorita said looking really happy that they went to the beach.

"I haven't had that much fun in well-" Charmander's voice trailed off as he strained to try to recall his old memories.

"Why can't I remember?" Charmander asked looking frustrated. "Well anyway, that was more fun than I've had in a long LONG time," Charmander said grinning and took Chikorita's paw.

"Thank's for being a good friend," Charmander said to Chikorita who blushed deeply.

"No, Thank YOU, Charmander for giving me courage so I could stand up for myself and for others who need help," Chikorita said beaming at him.

"No worries, we should probably head back to the guild, its getting dark," Charmander said pointing towards the sunset. Chikorita reluctantly agreed and they headed back to the guild. They ate supper and and went to bed.

"Ugh, boss what are we doing here?" Zubat asked.

"I want revenge and I'm not gonna stop until I get it," Skuntank said swearing under his breath.

"So what is your plan to get revenge," Koffing asked.

"It's actually quite simple," Skuntank said as he grinned evilly.

He led the other two away so they could start scheming for their revenge.

The next morning:

Charmander and Chikorita woke up on their own and headed for the briefing, after which they made to go do their jobs but they heard that Diglett was having trouble identifying a Pokemon and he asked his name and said it was Dusknoir and that shocked everyone except Team Drive. Curious, Charmander and Chikorita approached the new Pokemon to see a Dusknoir's body is mostly black, with two almond shaped eye-like markings and a yellow horizontal zigzag line on this Pokémon's torso which can open like a mouth (creating the illusion of a face) and fire powerful attacks. Dusknoir now has fully developed arms. Two yellow bands are near its black wrists and its gray hands are similar to Dusclops's. Dusknoir has a gray, cylinder-shaped head with another yellow band near the top and a single black glaring eye with a yellow iris and a red pupil. The tattered fringes of Dusknoir's lapels converge into a shawl collar on its upper chest. Dusknoir has a ghostly tail rather than feet, reminiscent of a genie, or a stylized depiction of a ghost. Dusknoir has a yellow antenna that can receive messages from the spirit world.

"It is pleasure to meet to you Wigglytuff," Dusknoir said pleasantly to Wigglytuff.

"Yes, it is a real honor," Wigglytuff said with a grin.

"Hey, Loudred?" Chikorita said.

"What's up?" Loudred replied looking at them.

"Who is that guy?" Chikorita asked.

"What?!" everyone said spinning around to look at the duo with stunned disbelief.

"How do you not know?" Corphish asked.

"Well I am not that surprised, you see Dusknoir is a new arrival on the scene," Sunflora explained to the duo. "It's like he became famous overnight or something like that," she added looking at Dusknoir thoughtfully.

"How's he different from everyone else?" Charmander asked.

"His wealth of knowledge, for a start, its like there isn't a question in the world that he can't answer," Corphish said.

"Well he does all his explorations solo," Loudred said "You gotta be pretty confident in your own abilities to try to pull that off," he added.

"Wow, that'd be really cool to do all the explorations by ourselves," Charmander said daydreaming about having even more adventures. Chikorita looked at Charmander sadly.

"I'm sorry, Chikorita," Charmander said apologizing and she merely shook her head saying "It's okay Charmander," she said while pulling out a bright smile making him smile too.

"I heard that you had mounted an expedition to Fogbound Lake, I was hoping to hear of your latest triumph," Dusknoir said.

"Sorry, but the expedition was a complete failure, we didn't achieve or learn a thing," Wigglytuff said.

"I see, well would be okay if I stayed here for a few days? I hear that your guild receives the latest news and that would help greatly on my explorations," he asked.

"Yeah, other exploration teams come here to find some information, so you don't have to ask if you need to do something here," Wigglytuff said pleasantly.

"Everyone," Wigglytuff said getting everyone's attention, "I want you to meet Dusknoir, he's going to be staying in Treasure Town for a few days and I want you all to mind yourselves around him, I'm sure everyone would like to get advice from him but let's try not to be nussiences," he said.

"I don't want people embarrasing us by asking for Autographs or anything like that," Chatot said.

"Oh no, if its autographs then I'm sure I can oblige but knowledge, I have very little of that but if I can be of service to you please don't hesitate to approach me," Dusknoir said with a pleasant smile on his face.

"It's honor to have met you Great Dusknoir," all the guild apprentices chanted in unison.

Suddenly a burst of conversation came forth. Pokemon talking eagerly about talking to Dusknoir and getting his autograph or getting some advice to become a better explorer.

"Team Drive, as I was saying before, I want you two to check out some of the jobs on the bulletin and outlaw noticeboard and chose some jobs and left the guild to talk about Dusknoir.

"Wow I never thought that the Great Dusknoir was ever gonna come to a place like this," Chikorita said.

"He seems like a pretty nice guy," Charmander said nodding in approval.

"We'd better get these jobs done," Charmander said as they headed out. They unlocked a new dungeon called Oran Forest. They went exploring with a Turtwig this time and he thanked with some new armor. They thanked Turtwig who smiled and left.

"Wow, look at all of this stuff," Charmander said looking stunned. There was Bounce Band, a Curve Band, A Dodge Scarf, two Joy Ribbons, A tight belt, an insomiascope, two pairs of X-ray specs, and two Zinc Bands.

They agreed that the first thing that they were gonna do when they got to treasure town the next day was to put all of this as well as the Oran berries they found in Oran Forest.

They ate dinner as usual only to find that it was halted by Chatot again telling them that another time gear was stolen.

"WHAT!" Everyone yelled in stunned disbelief.

"Its not happening, it can't be happening, it... can't," Corphish said weakly.

"I know that none of you would ever tell about what happened during that expedition, but please keep that information sealed away," Chatot pleaded and everyone nodded in response.

"I don't get it though," Chikorita said looking frustrated. "Who'd want a time gear, what would they do with it whoever it is," she added.

"I don't know," Charmander said as they both feel asleep.

**I think I'll cut it off here. I apreciate the fact that you guys review my stories. PM me great ideas, favor my story, favor me and alerted my story. You guys must really like this. I start working on Chapter 13 because thankfully I haven't had writer's block (yet). See ya next time. PLEASE REVIEW.**


	13. Kidnapped and Rescued

**Hey you guys, I have chapter 13 ready to go for you guys. I will keep updating even if I have no review for the previous chapters. I'll just have to work a little harder to come up with ideas for the story. I love the reviews you guys send in. I like the fact that some of you have favorited me, my story and alerted it as well (Even though I have no idea what that means, but enough about that, on with the story.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon or any of its characters. I DO own the plot twists, and changes in character personality.**

Chapter 13:

"Hey what do you think your doing?" Charmander said angrily.

"Humph, I would have thought that you would have put up a better fight than this," the mystery Pokemon said coldly, as Charmander was tied up.

"Let me go," Charmander tried to say put one of the henchmen KO'd him in one hit.

Charmander felt grateful that he had left a note and the Rose charm at the bed so Chikorita knew that the charm was from him

Chikorita woke this morning to find a Crown, and a Rose charm and note on his bed but Charmander was no where to be found. Chikorita glanced at the note next to the Charm and read "Chikorita, I got this Rose Charm for you yesterday in Treasure as a mission success on the expedition," Chikorita blushed and kept reading "I'm not gonna lie but you were awesome when we fought that Groudon, you were really smart with timing the reflects and I'm impressed,- with love Charmander," Chikorita finished and made a mental note to hug Charmander as hard as she could next time she saw him.

When Chikorita arrived at the main area, she looked around to find that Charmander was nowhere to be found. The other guild apprentices noticed this and they looked around wondering where he could be.

"Ahem, we have received a ransom note from some unknown Pokemon saying _Chaw haw haw, we have one of your guild members hostage and is currently being tortured, try to catch us if you can, we'll be in the deepest part of Labyrinth Cave, I bet you can't even reach us, if you want him back give us 900,000 poke by tomorrow," _The note finished there and everyone looked around looking scared.

"I guess, this means that I'll have to rescue Charmander by myself!" Chikorita declared and everyone looked at her looking stunned.

"You want to do it yourself?!" Chatot said looking stunned.

"Yes, I want to prove that I have gotten stronger to the world as this is the perfect way to do that, by rescuing my partner," Chikorita said looking determined.

"Okay, we'll leave it to you, Chikorita," Wigglytuff said and she nodded. She put Charmander's crown on her own head and made sure that she had the right IQ skills and she equipped the ones that she would need and took of the one's that would get in the way. She geared up for battle and got the armor that she need, her trusty defense scarf and put in a few new items having gotten a new and bigger treasure bag as well as a gold badge that she would give to Charmander when she saved him.

"Okay, I'm all set," Chikorita said ready to head out.

"Hey Chikorita," a voice called. She turned around to find Piplup running towards her.

'What are you doing?" Piplup asked glancing at Chikorita.

"I'm gonna go rescue Charmander," she said as she headed for Labyrinth Cave.

"No, I wanna do it," Piplup said coming closer.

"Not on my life," Chikorita said as she ran towards Labyrinth Cave, leaving Piplup in the dust.

"Aww man, I wanted to be the one that saved Charmander," Piplup said looking really angry. She vowed to get revenge on Chikorita one way or another.

"Let's go," Chikorita muttered to herself and she ran to Labyrinth cave.

She walked at a brisk place but she was a little frightened that she was going solo on a special mission. Luckily for Chikorita, she had a type advantage here so that meant that all of her grass type moves would be twice as powerful as normal. It also helped that she learned Energy Ball, Giga Drain, Hidden Power, and Safeguard so she could defeat enemies relatively quickly.

"Whew, I made to the farthest part of the dungeon," Chikorita said looking tired.

"How dare you come here!?" a voice said sounding angry.

"Who are you, show yourself!" Chikorita said looking around getting into a stance ready for battle.

Suddenly, in a flash of light, a Gabite appeared and it was extremely angry.

"How dare you come here uninvited," Gabite said looking angry.

"I came to rescue my friend," Chikorita said standing her ground.

"Enough of your lies!" he yelled as he ran toward her using dragon claw.

Chikorita noticed the attack rolled out of the way and countered with a magical leaf. Gabite blocked this and countered with a brick break and Chikorita looked stunned because it reminded her of Charmander. It was a direct hit but it didn't do all that much damage. Chikorita jumped and Gabite was stunned as she came down hard on him with a powered up Body Slam. He was stunned so she took this chance to combo him with vine whip with an Energy Ball finisher.

Gabite started using Sand Tomb to try to trap Chikorita, she was dashing around the field that they were fighting in and dodged successfully until she slowed down and she was trapped. She tried to whip the tomb and it weakened it so she combo'd it using razor leaf which freed her. She then healed herself using Giga Drain and it took hold of Gabite for a few seconds and she twirled it around while he was still trapped inside and that did additional damage as well.

The Giga Drain did its job as it faded away and Gabite feel and Chikorita was under him and she twirled her leaf and started one last combo of magical leaves to finish him off.

"You're a lot stronger than I thought," Gabite grunted before falling to the ground unconscious.

"Whew, he's finished but where's Charmander?" she said looking around.

"Oh man, I was hoping that you'd be finished but I guess not," a voice behind her said sounding furious. Chikorita immediately recognized who it was and immediately turned around to find Team Skull smirking at her with Charmander unconscious, tied up, and gagged.

"LET HIM GO!" Chikorita yelled.

"You're only gonna get him free, by two ways" Skuntank said coldly "1) You give us the mentioned ransom money of 900,000 poke or 2) You have to defeat all of us in a battle," Skuntank said with a cruel smile on his face.

"_I want to avoid a fight but I don't have that kind of money so I guess I don't have much choice,_" she thought as she got into a stance ready for battle.

"I guess that's how you wanna do it, get her," Skuntank said as Koffing and Zubat lunged forward. Chikorita used reflect and blocked ALL of the damage of Zubat's barrage of wing attacks and the reflect rebounded on him too so this gave her time to pull a successful air combo with an Energy ball finisher. Zubat was taken down and Koffing used sludgebomb on her but she quickly used light screen and the same happened except the sludge bomb hit him and the light screen rebounded and she did the did a barrage of magical leaves and that took down Koffing.

"How'd you like that," Chikorita said looking quite pleased with herself. The duo of Koffing and Zubat never stood a chance against her newfound skills and abilities. Skuntank smirked and jumped over Chikorita's head into the ring.

"I was hoping that you'd be knocked out by now but you must be a lot stronger than I thought," Skuntank said with a cruel smile. Suddenly a barrier appeared and Chikorita had no choice but to fight him.

(Cue dramatic music 13th struggle starts to play)

Chikorita was the faster one and she fired a razor leaf combo with a Energy Ball finish.

"Wh-what?" Skuntank said stunned and took the full blow and it did some more damage because it was a critical hit. Chikorita smirked and Skuntank jumped over the entire field and lighting it on fire.

"No way," Chikorita said stunned as he continued to jump and all she could do was dash to avoid the flame. She stopped him when she fired a razor leaf at his head and then he tried slashing her which she blocked with reflect and it rebounded on him and this gave her enough time to jump and hit him with a body slam. Skuntank pinned her down and was about to use flamethrower when Chikorita forced herself out of harm's way by using razor leaf which knocked him into the air and she jumped and gave him the most powerful body slam that she could possibly muster and she knocked him out and the barrier that prevented her from escaping vanished and she found Charmander unconscious, tied, and gagged.

"Charmander," Chikorita said nudging him, "Charmander wake up," she said desperately.

"Ugh, Chi.....ko....rita?" Charmander asked slowly regaining his consciousness. "Is that you?" he asked slowly looking around feeling groggy and tired. "Why was I in so much pain?" he asked looking confused.

"Charmander!" Chikorita yelled and she ran up and gave him a hug and started sobbing.

"What's wrong?" he asked looking at her.

"I thought I had lost you?" she said crying.

"I am still here, I won't leave you, ever," he whispered into her ear and she slowly stopped crying.

"Why am I in so much pain?" Charmander asked.

"You were tortured by Team Skull," Chikorita said.

"Huh, I was?" he asked looking stunned.

"Yeah, they said so before I fought them and beat them," she said looking sad.

"Wow, I'm really impressed that you took them all out all on your own," he said giving her a hug which she happily returned. "Did you like the rose charm that I gave you?" he asked.

"I loved it," Chikorita said in a muffled voice, her face still in Charmander's chest.

"I'm sorry that all of this happened," Charmander said looking at Chikorita who had lifted her face out of his chest.

"I'll explain how this happened when we get back to the guild," Charmander said. Chikorita nodded and they left.

"Charmander," Chikorita said.

"Yeah," he said and she gave him a gold badge.

"Chatot gave this to us this morning, I took it because you weren't there so take it," she said handing it to him. "Oh yeah, here's your crown back, I can see why you wear it," she added handing the crown to him as well.

"Thanks," he said putting on the crown and they headed for the guild.

"So let me see if I got this straight, Team Skull kidnapped Charmander, held him hostage for money, then Chikorita goes to Labyrinth cave and defeats a Gabite. Then takes on Koffing and Zubat and wins. Skuntank attacks and Chikorita counters and then wins the battle and rescue's Charmander," Chatot summed up the entire story.

"Yup," Chikorita and Charmander said in unison.

"That's funny," Chatot said laughing.

"Are you saying that we're lying?" Chikorita demanded.

"Relax Chikorita," he said to her, which she did.

"If you choose not to believe, then go ahead, as long as we are still alive and kicking, I really don't care if you believe my story or not," Charmander said looking at Chatot with an emotionless expression on his face.

It was still midday and Charmander looked really pale so Chikorita took them to Spinda's Cafe and Charmander swapped out some of the more common items they had for more valuable ones. Charmander came to Chikorita's table with a big grin on his face.

"What are you so happy about," Chikorita said curiously noticing his big grin.

"I just got some better armor, and moves," Charmander said happily

"Really?" Chikorita said.

"Yeah, I got some for me and some for you," Charmander said pulling out 10 discs and gave half of them to Chikorita who was able to learn any of these moves and the same thing happened with Charmander.

They headed over to Spinda's Juice bar and Charmander handed a Pecha berry for Chikorita and a Cheri berry for himself.

They both got their drinks and went back to their table and they chatted a little and Chikorita got a "WINNER" on her cup and she handed it to Spinda who gave her a TM move Solarbeam. She smiled at him and went back to Charmander.

"I think we better get back to the guild," Charmander said getting up. Chikorita nodded and they headed for the stairway above walking back to the guild together.

Meanwhile as some random location:

"Finally I found the second time gear," a mysterious figure muttered as he took the object and time there started to slow and come to a complete stop.

**Hooray, Charmander lived through Team Skull's wrath. For our interview of this chapter, (this is my first time trying this) we have *cue dramatic music* Chikorita.**

**Chikorita: Hey Sora, its nice to be here.**

**Me: What'd you think of the chapter.**

**Chikorita: I liked it because I wasn't the Damsel in Distress anymore, I got to get out and kick some butt.**

**Me: Well, you heard it her, Chikorita gives two thumbs up.**

**See ya next time *Stages fades out***


	14. Amp Plains and Electrike Tribe

**Hey guys, I'm back with a new chapter of the story. I am planning to write a new story with the PMD1 plot but with a few changes in scenes and Pokémon, so to decide who I should use for the partner, I set up a poll that some of you may have already voted. Read, Review and Vote. Also want to thank all you guys, who favored this story, alerted it, and my story and me to your favorite's list. I didn't think that I would get any reviews at all but you guys proved me wrong with your encouragement and suggestions. Now my classmates are interested, though I'm not sure if they are interested in Pokemon.**

Chapter 14:

Charmander and Chikorita woke up the next morning and went to the briefing and then they left to do some jobs.

"Team Drive, wait," Chatot yelled as they made to leave the guild.

"What's up," Charmander asked turning around.

"Before you get to work today, I want you to go to Kecleon Market and ask if they plan on selling Perfect Apples," Chatot said.

"You want us to go ask the Kecleon Bros. if they plan on selling Perfect Apples at the market?" Chikorita asked wanting to make sure that they didn't mess up.

"Precisely, you the guild's food stock holds many Perfect Apples, or at least it can, but the Guildmaster always raids the stock when we're not looking, it's always a chore having to send an exploration team to Apple Woods whenever the guild stock is low on Perfect Apples," Chatot said. "You what happens to the Guildmaster when he doesn't get his perfect apples," he added and Charmander and Chikorita nodded.

"I get it, if they start selling them in Kecleon Market, then we can just go buy them and that'll save us so much trouble," Chikorita said.

'Precisely," Chatot said.

"Okay, we'll go and deal with it," Chikorita said as they both ran to Treasure Town.

"Way to take charge," Chatot said to their retreating backs.

They both wanted to check on that egg that Chansey was taking care of and it hatched into a Starly that wanted to join its team. They both said yes and Starly went off to go do some training.

They arrived at Kecleon Market to see Kecleon and the Great Dusknoir having a little conversation.

"Hey isn't that the Great Dusknoir?" Charmander asked looking at the Ghost Pokemon talking to Kecleon.

"Yeah it is," Chikorita said looking somewhat surprised.

"Ah, you're from the guild I presume?" Dusknoir asked looking at the duo pleasantly.

"Yes, we're Team Drive, we work at the guild," Chikorita said smiling. "So what are you doing here Dusknoir sir?" she asked. "Shopping?" she asked.

"No, no, simply enjoying a chat with Kecleon here," Dusknoir said pleasantly gesturing toward the Kecleon.

"I hailed him down right from the start, the Great Dusknoir is very famous, we started a conversation, and what a chat, the Great Dusknoir is very knowledgeable and worldly and wise," Kecleon said. "I'm thoroughly impressed," he added as an afterthought.

"I guess the rumors are true," Chikorita said in admiration "Dusknoir sir, you must very knowledgeable as they say," Chikorita said.

"Oh Chikorita, what can I do for you, great items and wares," Kecleon said.

"Actually, no, we came here to ask if you guys were planning to stock Perfect Apples?" Chikorita asked.

"Perfect Apples huh? I'm sorry to say that we don't have any plans to stock Perfect Apples here," Kecleon said.

"That's too bad, Chatot won't be happy when he finds out that they won't be selling perfect apples," Chikorita said.

"Azurill, hurry," a voice said.

"Is that…?" Charmander asked looking around.

"It is…" Chikorita said as Marill came into view.

"Marill, Azurill, long time no see," Charmander said with a warm smile on his face and hands behind his head, which the young duo happily returned.

"The Marill and Azurill Bros. Well hello to you both,"

"Oh hi Kecleon Bros. and Team Drive too," Marill said.

"So what's with the rush," Chikorita asked the duo.

"Well you remember that precious item we were talking about a while back?" Marill asked.

"You mean that one that you were looking for before," Charmander asked his arms at his sides.

"Yeah, an item called a water float," Azurill explained.

"A water float you say, that's quite a rare and precious item," Dusknoir said.

"Yes, that's why we've been spending so much time looking around and looking hard for the item," Marill explained.

"Then someone told us that they saw a water float sitting on the beach today," Azurill said looking very excited.

"That's why we're in such a rush, we're going to go to the beach to find that water float," Marill said.

Not far from the Market:

Zubat and Koffing heard their conversation about the water float.

"Heh heh heh, that could come in handy for our plans, talk about a juicy tidbit," Zubat said with a smirk.

"Whoa ho ho, that could come in useful for our plans for revenge," Koffing said agreeing with Zubat.

"We'll bring the Chief up to speed and then get the jump on those losers," Zubat said to Koffing who nodded as they left.

**Back with Team Drive, Kecleon Bros. and Dusknoir.**

"That's so awesome, it's great that your item finally turned up somewhere," Chikorita said cheerfully.

"Yeah," Marill said and then said to Azurill "Come on Azurill, we'd better hurry," he said.

"Yeah, let's go," Azurill cheered as the duo ran to the beach in hopes of finding their lost item.

"That's really awesome," Chikorita said. "I was wondering how their item search was doing, now it seems like they have found it, I'm so happy for them," Chikorita said happily.

"I've never heard of a Water Float," Kecleon said frowning. "What purpose does it serve?" he asked looking around.

"An item float is Azurill specific item, it can only be obtained by exchanging precious treasures again and again," Dusknoir said. "As such, it is supposed to be an exceedingly rare item," Dusknoir said finishing his explanation.

"Gah, our line of work is buying and selling but we have never heard of it, it must be an exceedingly rare items, To sell such an item, I'm afraid the day will never come," Kecleon said looking somewhat sad.

"To sell…" Chikorita said slowly and then realization dawned on her face, "Charmander, I just remembered, we have to report back to Chatot the news about the Perfect Apples," she said.

"Okay, we'd better head back then," said Charmander as they ran to the guild.

"Bye you guys," Chikorita yelled over her shoulder.

"See ya later," Charmander said also looking over his shoulder.

**Back at the Guild:**

"What!" Chatot said looking stunned.

"We told you that they weren't going to sell Perfect Apples at the market," Charmander said impatiently.

"What am I gonna do now?" Chatot muttered to himself.

"You know," Chikorita said timidly. "We can go to Apple Woods and get some more for you," Chikorita said.

"You can't be serious, the last time that we sent you there, you were beaten up so badly, though you did get the Perfect Apples, but the incident itself was slightly traumatic for me," Chatot said looking unhappy. "I'm sorry, you two were outstanding on the guild's recent expedition, and I recognize everything you done up to this point but that was slightly traumatic for me," Chatot said. "I guess that I will have to get the Perfect Apples myself," Chatot sighed.

"You two should look over the jobs and outlaws and pick a few of them," Chatot said as he left to go to Apple Woods.

"Chatot looked disappointed," Chikorita said sadly. "C'mon let's go get some jobs," she said as she dragged Charmander up the ladder to go do some work.

They went to Mt. Horn to take on a whopping five outlaws, rescue two Pokemon, and go exploring with two more. Charmander was opening the chests along the way to find that they contained Proteins, Calcium, Iron, and Zinc.

They went back to the guild that night. They got a huge selection of rewards for helping all those Pokemon and Chatot gave them a Platinum badge that showed their new rank as an exploration team.

"Cool," Charmander said as he gazed at his new badge. They had just eaten dinner and were talking in their rooms.

At dinner Chatot stopped everyone from eating by telling them that another time gear was stolen. Everyone was surprised at that statement.

"Is the one from Fogbound Lake?" Sunflora asked.

"No, this one was from somewhere unheard of," said Chatot with a frown.

"Although, I have the utmost confidence in every single one of you, I must tell you NOT to breathe a word of what we all saw on the expedition," Chatot said.

"Of course," Corphish said.

"I would NEVER forget the promise that we made to Uxie," Loudred said looking clearly taken aback by this news.

"Sorry to keep you waiting like this," Chatot said. "On your marks, get set," Chatot began

"CHOW!!" Everyone yelled in unison as they all started eating.

**At Fogbound Lake:**

Uxie could be seen on the ground in pain.

"I should have done it," Uxie muttered. "I should have taken away their memories when I had the chances," he said angrily.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said a mysterious Pokemon. "No one told me about this place, I've known of the presence of a time gear here… for a very long time," the voice said.

"Please, have no quarrel with you, but I shall have it, the third time gear," the voice said again.

In Team Drive's Room

"I can't believe that someone has stolen a second time gear, what would anyone WANT with them in the first place?" Chikorita asked looking frustrated. Charmander merely shrugged to show his confusion. He then decided to change the subject to something else and he mind came to the water float.

"Well, do you think that Azurill and Marill will show us their item, next time we see them?" Charmander asked.

"I –yawn- hope so," Chikorita said looking tired.

"Well, maybe we should hit the sack for tonight," Charmander said with a laugh as Chikorita whacked him with her leaf and went to her bed and fell asleep.

Charmander stifled a chuckle before heading to his bed and going to sleep as well.

**Later that night:**

"Kidnapping didn't work," Skuntank said looking very frustrated.

"We've got an idea," Zubat and Koffing said in unison and then they both glared at each other and then started beating the snot out of each other while Skuntank just sweatdropped.

"That's enough, I want to hear your idea," Skuntank said impatiently and they whispered it in his ear and Skuntank's cruel grin grew bigger with every word uttered.

"I love this idea," Skuntank said with a smirk.

**The Next Day:**

Chikorita and Charmander woke the next morning and ran to the briefing. They did the cheers and made to leave when they heard that Loudred and Diglett had called them over.

"Hey, Team Drive, you've got visitors at the guild's entrance," Loudred said as Charmander and Chikorita nodded, clearly curious about whom their visitors were and what they were doing this early in the morning.

They made it to the entrance to find Marill and Azurill there, waiting patiently for Team Drive to appear.

"Hey you two, what's up?" Chikorita asked.

"We need your help finding a water float," Marill said sadly.

"Isn't that what you were looking for yesterday?" Charmander asked with his arms crossed.

"Yeah but instead of finding the water float on the beach, we found this," Marill said handing Charmander a piece of paper. Chikorita took it and she deciphered the message on the paper.

"Okay here's what it says," Chikorita said. "Chaw haw haw the item you seek is now in our possession, if you want it back, try to get us, we'll be at the deepest part of Amp Plains. But knowing how pathetically weak you are I bet you can't even reach us, that's right go cry to your big shot friends and yelling about you're lack of skill," the letter finished there.

"This is a ransom note," Charmander said, realization dawning on his face.

"You two, I hope you guys aren't falling for this trap," Chikorita said.

"I didn't want Azurill to get any scary scratches so he stayed home while I went to Amp Plains but I didn't get very far before I got knocked out, those electric types always, ALWAYS knocked me out before I got a chance to counter," Marill said, tears welling up in his eyes.

Charmander and Chikorita exchanged a glance and then nodded.

"You take care of Azurill and we'll handle the rest," Charmander said looking determined. Chikorita blushed at her partner's enthusiasm and nodded too.

"Thanks so much," Marill said eyes full of tears. "First you save Azurill, and now this," he added "We can't thank you enough.

"Well, no more tears," Chikorita said, smiling slightly "C'mon we'd better get going," she said to Charmander who nodded and they made a mad dash for Amp Plains.

"So this is Amp Plains," Charmander said looking at the thunderclouds ahead of them.

"Let's keep moving, I wanna see how I match up to an electric type," Charmander said as they both started running.

They had a lot easier of a time exploring this place than they had defeated every Pokemon that came their way with immense easy. They also felt inwardly grateful that they did some training over at Marowak's dojo before they left. They were at the halfway point when they agreed to take a break.

**Meanwhile, back in Treasure Town:**

_Azurill and Marill explain to the Kecleon brothers about what happened, and when Dusknoir shows up, they have to explain it again. When they mention Amp Plains, Dusknoir's face blanches, and he rushes off in a panic._

**Back with Team Drive:**

"We made it to the farthest part," Chikorita said looking a little tired.

"Is that the Water Float?" Charmander asked looking tired too, and pointing at an object about 35 yards from where they were standing.

"I that's it, Charmander," Chikorita said looking at the object in question.

Suddenly the sky darkened and they heard a voice.

"Why did you come here?" A voice asked fiercely.

"Who are you, show yourself!" Charmander yelled and in a flash of light six Electrike (small dog Pokemon with green skin) surrounded them. In the center of the circle was a Manectric (a blue dog Pokemon with yellow on its large head and lightning bolts at its paws and heels as well as near its tail).

"We're surrounded," Chikorita yelled.

"How dare you come here uninvited, and then rudely interrupt us," Manectric snarled charging up a thunderbolt.

'Wait, we didn't try to do -," Chikorita began but was immediately cut off by Manectric.

'Take this!!" he yelled as fired thunderbolt at the duo. They both ran in different directions and were surrounded by the Electrike.

"We've got no choice, we have to fight," Charmander yelled.

The Electrike started things off with Quick Attack and then Charmander grabbed it and twirled around and hit the others. That knocked them out pretty quickly. Chikorita took the time to fire a barrage of Magical Leaves at Manectric and they were all direct hits. Charmander, having defeated all of the Electrike with that twirl of his fired a Flamethrower at Manectric and that helped a lot and then Chikorita used an Energy Ball finisher and that knocked Manectric out.

"We did it," Charmander said but Manectric got back to his feet looking a little tired but still in good shape.

"TAKE THIS!" he yelled firing the attack. The duo shielded their eyes and in a flash of light Dusknoir appeared and the attack bounced off because of his light screen.

"STOP," Dusknoir said loudly. "They speak the truth, though they trespass, they have no intentions to conquer your land," he added.

"Who're you," Manectric asked calming down slightly.

"I am the world-famous Dusknoir," he began. "Your rage is completely reasonable, especially considering that this is the mutually beneficial ecosystem where you annually return for a safe haven. I understand completely! On behalf of these unwilling trespassers, I sincerely apologize! They mean no malice! We will leave you in peace as soon as our business is complete!" Dusknoir said to the tribe.

"You know quite a bit about us Dusknoir," Manectric said. "Very well we'll allow you some time, but we want you gone by the time we get back," he said. Manectric looked to everyone and gestured for the Electrike to follow him.

They got the Water Float back and then Dusknoir reveals that Team Skull was behind this whole scheme this whole time.

"What else do you know about the Manectric Tribe?" Charmander asked looking at Dusknoir curiously.

"Well, I can tell you that they're perpetual nomads. Incessant thunderstorms annually lash Amp Plains at this temporal period, and such discharges are mutually beneficial for them. But they were once ambushed here without warning…and endured an irreplaceable setback in their population…so it became an irrevocable mandate that they would preemptively strike at any unwilling trespassers," Dusknoir said, finishing his explanation.

"So how did the Water Float get here?" Chikorita asked looking around.

"I would think that it was put here deliberately, isn't that right, you scoundrels," Dusknoir said eying a rock with a cold look.

Team Skull appeared and was disappointed that the tribe didn't finish them off. Dusknoir challenged them but they made a run for it and Team Drive got really mad saying that they would never EVER forgive Team Skull for all the torture that they put them through.

They shrugged, left Amp Plains, and returned the Water Float to the little brothers who promptly started to celebrate and they opted to have a little party, which everyone was game for so they had dinner, played a few games, went back to the guild, and promptly fell asleep.

So what do you think? Like it, Love it? Hate it? I don't know if it's just me but it feels like this chapter was somewhat rushed but I'll leave that decision for you guys to call. Anyway, I hope that none of my school friends read this story because they wouldn't stop teasing me if they got wind of this. Anyway please review, and vote on the poll set up on my Profile.

This time for our interview we have Charmander:

**Charmander: Yo Sora, what's up.**

**Me: eh, same old same old. What do you think of this chapter?**

**Charmander: I think it was pretty awesome**

**Me: Well you heard it here, Charmander gibes it high five.**

**See ya next time.**


	15. Dimensional Scream and The Enemy

**Hey you guys, wow, you guys were favored this story and me. Not to mention that you were clicking that review button like you were getting paid to do it. I've got the next chapter right here for you guys.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters. I DO own the changes in plot and the personalities of the characters.**

Chapter 15:

Charmander and Chikorita went to the beach, having been given a day off from work for their explorations. They played in the sand building a sand castle and swam (Charmander had put a bottle on his tail so the flame wouldn't go out when he went underwater. They went to Treasure Town and they saw Dusknoir there talking to the Kecleon Bros. again.

"I wonder," Charmander said to himself as they were walking through Treasure Town.

"What is it, Charmander?" Chikorita asked looking at him curiously.

"I wonder, do you think that Dusknoir might know EVERYTHING about my past?" Charmander asked a bemused Chikorita.

"Maybe," Chikorita said uncertainly. "Why? Do you want to go ask him?" she asked him curiously.

"Yeah, let's go!" yelled Charmander, who was starting to run towards Kecleon's Market.

"Hey wait for me!" Chikorita shouted in response as she ran after him.

They approached the market and saw the two having a chat like before.

"Ah, Team Drive, we would like to thank you for saving those little brothers," the green Kecleon said with a smile on his face. "I must say that when you rescued that little Azurill the first time, it was a remarkable thing to behold," the purple Kecleon said with a grin.

"Well to tell the truth, I wish it was just like Kecleon said," Chikorita said sadly "But you see, my partner sort of had it in a dream… sort of," Chikorita said lamely looking around at the others.

"By dream what do you mean by that?" Dusknoir said looking confused.

"Oh well, you might now, is it okay to ask?" Chikorita asked Charmander who nodded and Chikorita said, "Dusknoir sir, you see, my partner occasionally gets strange dizzy spells when touching something or someone, and then my partner sees or hears something that happened in the past! Or something that's gonna happen in the future!" Chikorita said to a stunned Dusknoir.

"What?" Dusknoir said stunned. "That's… That's… The Dimensional Scream," Dusknoir said looking thoroughly surprised.

"What?" Charmander said surprised "Dusknoir, sir, do you really know something about this ability?" he asked.

"If that's the case," Chikorita said. "Should we ask Dusknoir if he knows even more?" Chikorita said.

"_Ask about what?" _Charmander thought to himself. Then he finally figured it out. _My own forgotten past that I can't remember._ He thought feeling really stupid.

"It's okay to ask, right Charmander?" Chikorita asked and snapped him out of his daze.

"Wh-What?" Charmander asked looking confused and then noticed the stunned disbelief on Chikorita's face and then remembered. "Oh yeah sure, let's do it," Charmander said, nodding in agreement.

"Dusknoir, sir, we were wondering if we could get your advice on something," Chikorita asked and Dusknoir agreed and they went to the beach so they could talk in private.

"I see… so you found our friend unconscious right here," Dusknoir said, examining the spot with a little bit of curiosity.

"Yes, right here exactly," said Chikorita firmly.

"Then you regained consciousness, though you'd lost your memory," Dusknoir asked, seeking confirmation.

"Yes, though he could remember being a human before that and that he didn't remember anything else, not even his name," Chikorita said hopelessly.

"I beg your pardon, a-a human?" Dusknoir said shocked. He then looked at Charmander from every angle. "But our friend here seems to be a Pokemon in every obvious way," Dusknoir concluded.

"That's true," Chikorita said. "I guess this even beyond the great Dusknoir's understanding," she added, sighing in defeat. "But we're certain that something had to have caused my partner's memory loss…and caused the transformation from Human to Pokemon," Chikorita said sadly.

"A human… with the Dimensional Scream ability," Dusknoir said to himself. "You said that you don't remember your name?" Dusknoir asked and Charmander shook his head saying that he didn't remember anything before he had met Chikorita who had blushed a little at the statement.

_Uh, did I just see… the faintest, was Dusknoir hiding the faintest of smiles?_ Charmander thought to himself. _Or did I just imagine that? He thought._

"I'm sincerely sorry I couldn't help you with that…" Dusknoir said apologetically. "However, I do know about the ability Charmander possess," Dusknoir said.

"Oh Really? What is it?" Chikorita asked shocked.

"The ability to see the future or the past by touching something, that ability is known as the Dimensional Scream," Dusknoir said.

"Dimensional…Scream?" Charmander asked looking confused.

"Indeed. How such an ability is learned, that piece is unknown. But what I do know about it is that sounds and images slice across boundaries of time, breeching objects and reaching into Pokemon to manifest as visions from the past or future, and that is all I know about the extraordinary ability," Dusknoir said looking apologetically at the duo.

"So Charmander has an ability as special as the Dimensional Scream," Chikorita said looking at Charmander intently who looked back nervously.

"Well, perhaps this is why we became friends," Dusknoir said, "So we can all unravel the secret of Charmander's transformation from human to Pokemon! I offer you my full cooperation and assistance!" Dusknoir said with a kind smile on his face.

"Really? Thanks so much Dusknoir sir," Charmander and Chikorita cheered in unison.

"Yes, to be perfectly honest, I can't stand knowing that there's something out there that I don't know! Quite honestly, that's is the complete gist of it!" Dusknoir said starting to laugh as Charmander and Chikorita after exchanging a glance joined in too.

"It's really reassuring to know that we have someone of your caliber on our side helping out with solving this mystery Dusknoir, sir!" Chikorita said cheerfully.

"Isn't it great, Charmander?" Chikorita asked happily. Charmander was about to answer when they heard sudden flaps of wings from above. They saw a lot of Pelipper (large pelican Pokemon) flying about.

"Hey, look at all the Pelipper," Charmander said looking at them all.

"I wonder why there are so many in the air anyway?" Dusknoir said looking utterly confused.

"There were a lot more in the air than usual," Chikorita said nodding in agreement.

"Could something be the matter?" Dusknoir wondered out loud.

Suddenly a voice called out to them yelling "HEY!" and they turned to see Bidoof scampering towards them.

"Hey Bidoof, what's up" Charmander said looking at the tired Bidoof.

"I f-f-finally f-found you all," Bidoof said panting because he was running so fast.

"What's the big hurry?" Chikorita asked. "You're all out of breath," she added noticing that he was breathing heavily.

"The call has been put out, all the guild members are to report to the guild immediately!" Bidoof said with as much energy as he could.

'Uh-oh, something's gotta be up if there's so many Pelipper in the sky like that," Chikorita said looking shocked.

"I'll go with you two," Dusknoir said, looking grim.

"Well we won't find out by standing here," Charmander said, "C"MON!" he yelled as they all ran back to the guild.

They quickly ran back to the guild and found that everyone was gathered around the Outlaw Notice Board and everyone was silent.

"We just got the message and we came running as fast as we could," Chikorita said, panting. "What's going on," she asked, looking at the crowd of Pokemon.

"Another Time Gear was stolen," said Chatot looking taken aback.

"Wh-What?" Charmander asked, hoping that he had misheard Chatot.

"This is not happening, it can't be happening, it…….can't," Charmander said.

"Where was it from this time?" Chikorita asked apprehensively.

"………………." Was all they got as a response.

"It can't be, it was the one from Fogbound Lake?" Chikorita asked and the guild members nodded in disappointed.

"There's no way that could happen," Charmander said firmly, "Only we knew about that," he added.

"Unless someone in the guild decided to talk," Chikorita said, and at that everyone burst into protest about how they would NEVER do something like that.

"Don't you trust your fellow apprentices?" Loudred asked Chikorita angrily.

"I'm sorry, you're right that was completely uncalled for, no one would ever break that promise we made with Uxie," Chikorita said tears forming in her eyes and Charmander went over to her and started patting her back in a comforting way that made her tears go away.

"I don't understand, there was a time gear at Fogbound Lake? I didn't know that," Dusknoir said looking confused "I seem to recall you telling me that your expedition ended in failure," Dusknoir added as an afterthought.

"We had to keep a secret, so we couldn't even tell you, Dusknoir," Wigglytuff said looking really sad.

"Well if that's case then I'll lend my assistance and help catch this outlaw," Dusknoir said.

"Well, we now know who we're dealing with here," Chatot said grimly.

"Well don't just stand there, tell us who it is," Bidoof demanded.

"Looking on the board," Chatot said and they all looked as they saw a Pokemon called Grovyle on the poster and Chatot explained that this was based on Uxie's statement when he was attacked.

"So this who we're dealing with," Charmander muttered. _Why do I have the feeling that I know him from somewhere? _He thought to himself.

"C'mon, we'd better rest for tomorrow so we can search and protect the remaining Time Gears," Chatot said as they all made a mad dash to the mess hall so they could get something to eat. They all ate in silence and muttered a word of goodnight to each other before turning in for the night.

"I wonder why Grovyle is after the Time Gears," Charmander wondered to himself.

"So do –yawn- I," Chikorita said looking tired. "C'mon we'd better turn in so we can get some sleep before we start searching for Grovyle," she said as she fell asleep and Charmander followed suit.

The next day Charmander and Chikorita went to the briefing and they were all assigned to go to designated areas.

Corphish and Loudred were going to Eastern Forest,

Dugtrio, Sunflora, and Bidoof were heading for Crystal Cave, and Charmander and Chikorita were gonna head for Northern Desert.

Just as they were heading out, a voice yelling "HEY!" called to them and they turned around to see Piplup standing there waving at them.

"Hi Piplup," Charmander said to Piplup who started blushing while Chikorita sweatdropped.

"I heard that a time gear was stolen, can I go with you guys to Northern Desert?" she asked hoping that they'd say yes.

"Uh, okay," said Charmander shrugging. Chikorita looked at Piplup coldly thinking evil thoughts to herself.

"C'mon, we'd better hurry," said Charmander, as they ran out the gate of the guild and ran to Northern Desert.

"I really wish I wasn't a fire type right about now," Charmander said irritable having been attacked by another ground type Pokemon and was saved by Piplup.

"Oh, come on Charmander," Piplup said to him, "It can't be that bad," she added trying to cheer him up.

Chikorita was leading the way and she was awfully quiet.

"Chikorita?" Charmander asked and Piplup looked angry. She turned around to look at her partner who had a worried look on his face. "Is there something wrong?" he asked her frowning.

"No, I'm fine thanks Charmander," she said but got really mad when Piplup started holding paw and fin with Charmander. She managed to suppress her rage and kept her cheerful nature when they got to the end of the desert.

"Well, there doesn't seem to be anything here," said Charmander as he looked around apart from the sand pits.

"Stop, trying to flirt with Charmander," Chikorita said coldly, they were out of Charmander's earshot so they could talk with Charmander hearing what they were saying.

"Try to stop me," Piplup said with a contemptuous smirk.

Chikorita growled and then tackled her and Piplup retaliated with a headbutt, which also hit. Neither of the attacks did much damage, as they didn't muster up a lot of power behind them.

Meanwhile, Charmander was getting a weird feeling from this place. _Why do I have the same sensation I had back at Fogbound Lake? _He wondered to himself. _Is it possible for me to have been here before and then I forgot about it? _ He thought to himself.

Suddenly his head started hurting and he fell to the ground with a thud. The two females heard this thud and ran over to see what happened.

"CHARMANDER!" they both shrieked in unison, looking terrified at the unconscious figure before him.

Piplup made to carry him with his arms over her shoulders but Chikorita whacked her with her leaf and they started putting him on her back. Piplup fought back by pecking Chikorita a few times and then started carrying Charmander back to the guild.

Chikorita sighed in defeat and followed them back to the guild. Piplup was blushing deeply all the while thinking that Chikorita had never done this to Charmander and she felt really smug.

They came back to the guild and put Charmander in bed and they both just waited for him to wake up.

They had both went to dinner and had saved something for Charmander.

They waited for a couple of hours, and then he started to stir. They both turned to face him and he started to get on his butt and stared at the duo of females staring at him curiously. Charmander started sweating and pulled them both towards him in a big hug, which they both happily returned.

"Charmander, what happened to you?" Piplup asked apprehensively. Charmander shook his head and started clutching it as though it was in great pain. Chikorita quickly used synthesis to calm him down, which actually worked!

"Now, tell us what happened," Chikorita said slowly and Charmander nodded.

"You see, while you to were checking out the other part of the desert I had a feeling that I had been there before," he said.

"You mean like at Fogbound Lake?" Piplup asked.

"How'd you know that?" Charmander asked her and she merely shrugged saying that it was a lucky guess and then told him to continue. He shrugged it off and then continued:

"I then remembered something from my human life," Charmander said looking at the pair of Pokemon with surprise in his eyes.

"Really?" Chikorita asked her curiosity mounted when Charmander said this. "What was it?" she asked him.

"I remembered my name," Charmander said with a frown.

"Really?" Piplup asked. "Well, what is it?" she asked impatiently.

"It's..." Charmander said.

Hahaha, I'm so evil. So anyway, I want to do another cliffhanger because I thought that this might be a good time to cut off the chapter anyway. So what do you guys think Charmander's name is gonna be? Tell me in a review and who knows? You might actually be right.

**Anyway tonight I'm gonna interview *cue dramatic music* Piplup**

Piplup: Hey Sora.

**Me: Hey Piplup**

**Me: So what'd you think of the chapter**

**Piplup: I liked it. I got to be with Charmander again.**

**Me: What do you think his true name is?**

**Piplup: I have a few ideas but why kill the suspense**

**Me: Well you heard it here; Piplup thinks this is an awesome chapter.**

**Piplup: Read and Review **


	16. Memories

Hey guys, wow 30 reviews so many story alerts, and favoring my story and me on to your authors list. I didn't think that this story would be THAT popular when I started so I made an account so I could post them so I started and I kept posting and then you guys started review at Chapter 4 and then you guys kept review my stories and chapters. I felt really happy and my classmates started reading them too. I'm going to use the name that I used when I played the game. To thank you for all you've done, Chapter 16:

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon, or any of its characters. I DO own the modified plot and the character personalities.**

Chapter 16:

"Well come on Charmander, spill it out already," Chikorita said looking very impatient.

"It is Ali," Charmander said in remembrance.

"Ali?" Chikorita said and he nodded.

"I think it's a really cute name," Piplup said and Ali blushed.

"Really?" Ali asked stunned.

"Yeah," Piplup said nodding vigorously and Chikorita doing the same and also blushing.

"Thanks you guys," Ali said cheerfully.

They fell asleep and Piplup said bye and headed back to the assembly.

Ali and Chikorita woke up the next morning and went to the briefing where Chatot said that he and Dusknoir were formulating possible ideas for where the time gears might be.

"We apologize for out lack of information," Dusknoir said apologetically to the group of Pokemon who nodded understandingly.

"Dusknoir, sir," Chikorita called to the ghost apprehensively.

"Yes Chikorita," Dusknoir said approaching them.

"Well you see, my partner, a fellow teammate and I were exploring Northern Desert yesterday and my partner here remembered something," Chikorita exclaimed.

"Oh really? Well what was it?" Dusknoir asked curiously.

"I remembered my name," Ali said.

"Well, what is your name?" Dusknoir asked.

"My name is Ali," Ali said to Dusknoir who was deep in thought.

"Does that name ring any bells?" Chikorita asked looking at Dusknoir curiously.

"No, it does not have any real significance to me," Dusknoir said sadly as looked at the two with a little disappointment.

"Oh well," Chikorita said with a shrug. "C'mon Ali, we'd better see if we can find out the location of more time gears," she added dragging him away.

"Hey Chikorita, why don't we go to Quicksand desert," Ali suggested.

"Why?" Chikorita said looking completely confused at the suggestion.

"I will explain when we get there," Ali said briskly as he ran out the door with Chikorita running after him yelling, "Wait for me," and he slowed down so she can catch up to him and then they both started running.

"Well, we're back and there doesn't seem to be anything here, apart from the sand pits OBVIOUSLY," Chikorita said looking around.

_Chikorita is right, _Ali thought to himself frowning. _But why do I have the feeling that I've been here before and also why is my heart telling me that I should jump into the sand pits? _Ali thought to himself. _Unless there is more here than meets the eye, there might be a secret to this place just like in Fogbound Lake. _Ali thought to himself.

"Char- I mean Ali, is there something wrong?" Chikorita asked eyeing Ali intently.

"I just had an idea," Ali said.

"Well then, let's hear it then," Chikorita said encouraging him to share his idea with her.

"Remember back in Fogbound Lake, where the secret to moving forward was in that statue of Groudon?" Ali asked and Chikorita nodded remembering the event quite vividly. "Well, I think that the same thing might be in play here as well," Ali said with his arms crossed and he looked a little confused.

"Well, what secret do you think that this place holds?" Chikorita asked frowning.

"I think that if we want to proceed forward, we're going to have to jump into the sand pits," Ali said walking towards the sand pits.

"Ali don't," Chikorita said stopping him with her leaf

"Why?" he asked looking confused.

"I don't want you to get hurt," Chikorita said blushing.

"Hey, no need to worry," Ali said, "I've put a bottle on my tail so that the sand won't put out the flame on my tail," he added with a grin.

"Alright then, ready?" she asked and he nodded.

"NOW!" she yelled as they both ran into the pit and they both started sinking and they landed in an underground sandpit.

"Wow," Chikorita said, looking around. "You were right Ali, you were really right," Chikorita said, eyes sparkling.

"Told you I was right," Ali said with a grin on his face and looking quite smug.

"Well come on, let's see if there really is a time gear at the end of the cave up ahead," Chikorita said looking at the fissure in the wall, and they both nodded and ran through it and started exploring.

(Cavern of Remembrance Music Starts to Play)

They explored Quicksand desert and much to Ali's dismay there were just as many ground type Pokemon here as there were in Northern Desert, if not more.

"Darn it," Ali said swearing under his breath. "I wish I was some other type of Pokemon," Ali said looking extremely irritated after being attacked by another ground type. He managed to defeat it but it Chikorita wasn't there with him he was sunk for sure.

"Thanks Chikorita," Ali said smiling at her, and she started blushing.

"Hey don't mention it, what are friends for?" she replied quite cheerfully. Ali smiled at her and they continued.

As they proceeded further down the cave Ali found some more treasure chests and started opening them.

"There," he said triumphantly as he opened the three chests. The first revealed to be a protein (Power Boost, whichever you prefer) the second one contained an Iron (Defense Boost) and the last chest contained a ribbon. Ali put on the second ribbon and wore it like a sash and it crossed with the other one that he wore.

At the halfway mark they took a bit of a break and started healing themselves. Ali was using Oran berries and Max Elixirs while Chikorita used Synthesis and then used an elixir (I know that elixirs aren't available in the game but like I said, I'm changing it up a little).

"Okay, let's keep moving," Ali said gazing ahead, as they proceeded further into the cave.

They confronted quite a few more ground types but luckily for Ali there were some grass types in the deeper area and he took them out with ease, while he left the ground types to Chikorita who was also taking out her foes with ease.

They reached the deepest part of the cave and found something they would have never expected: a lake.

"Whoa, what the heck is a lake doing in a place like this?" Ali asked looking around at the sight before them.

"I don't know, but we'd better start searching for the time gear," Chikorita suggested pointing towards the lake before them.

Suddenly the room went dark and they heard a voice.

"What are you doing here?" The voice demanded angrily. "How dare you try to steal the time gear, you must be the ones Uxie told me about using telepathy," it said. Ali guessed that it was a female.

"Who are you, show yourself," Ali yelled looking around and getting into a stance, ready for battle.

Suddenly a Pokemon with a pink head and blue body along with two tails popped out of the water and she looked really ticked off.

"Who are you," Chikorita asked.

"I'm Mesprit, I am the guardian of Quicksand Pit's Time Gear, now leave or I'm going to make you leave," she said threateningly.

"But-," Ali began but she promptly started attack them so they had to dodge.

"If it's a fight you want, it's a fight you're going to get," Ali muttered under his breath.

She started by using psychic on the rocks and hurling them at the duo. They dodged this quite easily by simply rolling out of the way.

Ali was quick to counter with a combo of aerial Iron tails and with a spinning Iron tail as a finisher.

Chikorita simply fired off a series of Magical Leaves at Mesprit and they hit her dead on and she used energy ball as a finisher.

Mesprit used psychic again but Chikorita used light screen to block the attack and the damage. Chikorita was forced back a few feet but Ali pushed her forward to help keep her balance so that it wouldn't do as much damage as it would normally.

Ali sprinted over to Mesprit and started to combo her with slash and used Brick Break as a finisher. Mesprit seized this opportunity to use psychic on Ali and throws him into the rocky wall and then she summons up some rocks from the ground and they knock him into the air.

Ali quickly recovered and landed on his feet and healed himself with an Oran berry.

Ali took advantage of the fact that he was far from his target and fired a series of flamethrowers, the final flamethrower being his finisher, of course.

Mesprit grew tired of all the fighting and became more fatigued and the fight ended.

"I … can't…let…you…take…the…time…gear," she said panting.

"Please listen," Chikorita said impatiently, "We keep telling you, we did not come here to steal your time gear!" Chikorita said angrily.

"Don't lie to me, Uxie used his telepathy to tell me that the Time Gear at Fogbound Lake was stolen," Mesprit said triumphantly.

"What! Uxie told you that!" Ali said looking deeply surprised.

"That was your doing wasn't it WASN'T IT!" she shouted.

"Come on, of course not," Ali said impatiently, his arms folded across his chest.

"Then who's responsible then?" Mesprit demanded looking furious.

"That would probably be…me," a voice behind them said.

The trio spun around to see Grovyle in the flesh looking at the trio with a smirk on his face.

"Who- Who are you?" Mesprit demanded yet again.

"G-Grovyle," Chikorita said completely stunned.

"You," Ali said angrily.

"I must apologize…but I will be taking that Time Gear with me," he said as he sprinted to Team Drive and knocked them out of the way.

"Eeyaah," They both yelled as they both flew back and landed in the shallow part of the water and they both floated there with Ali's tail sticking out of the water with flame looking pretty small.

"Step aside," Grovyle said Mesprit, "You have taken a lot of damage with your last battle, don't push it," he said coldly.

"I-I won't let you take the time gear," Mesprit said looking tired from the last battle.

"I have no choice then," Grovyle said apologetically and he knocked out Mesprit.

Ali and Chikorita got to their feet and saw it happen.

"Mesprit, no," Ali yelled as he jumped to catch Mesprit and Chikorita got in Grovyle's way again.

"I won't let you get past me," Chikorita said, putting on a determined face when she was actually terrified out of her wits.

"I have no quarrel with you," Grovyle said impatiently as he knocked out Chikorita who recovered quickly.

Meanwhile with Ali:

"Gotcha," he muttered as he landed in the water and quickly resurfaced and carried her over to Chikorita as Grovyle swam to the Time Gear and time started to freeze there with the occasional explosion, which Chikorita blocked with reflect and it got stronger.

"I'm sorry, I guess Uxie wasn't talking about you two after all," Mesprit said with an apologetic look on her face, but then noticed that the light had started to fade and then said: "We've gotta get out of here!"

"What," Chikorita said looking scared.

"C'MON," Ali yelled as they sprinted towards the exit and escaped using an escape orb they had on hand and they teleported back to the guild.

"ZZZT! Thank you for helping out with this criminal investigation. ZZZT! We have Mesprit under our protection. Her safety is assured. ZZZT! We are dedicating all resources to the pursuit of the thief Grovyle. ZZZT! If any of you comes across any useful information that can potentially help us bring this criminal to justice please don't hesitate to tell us, ZZZT we must all cooperate to bring this criminal to justice. ZZZT! That is all. Now please excuse us! ZZZT!" Officer Magnezone said as he and two Magnemite left the guild there was a torrent of conversation that burst forth after that had ended.

"My, my I'm absolutely astonished, so there was a lake deep under Northern Desert and not only that but there was a Time Gear down there as well," Chatot said looking thoroughly taken aback.

"Yes, but Grovyle made off with that Time Gear and we couldn't even slow him down, that's basically the same as doing nothing at all," Chikorita said sadly.

That's not true, by golly!" Bidoof said to Chikorita, "I think that Team Drive has done great work and make a valuable discovery," Bidoof added.

"Hey, hey! I think so too, Team Drive can be really proud of themselves for pulling off a discovery like that," Corphish said nodding in agreement. "But it's a shame about this whole thing," he said. "There's no clue telling us what we should or how we can stop Grovyle from stealing anymore Time Gears, if we had some tiny hint then maybe we can figure this whole thing out,"

"I must agree," said Dugtrio nodding, "Where will Grovyle strike next? We have no way of knowing anything," he added.

"It's too bad that the opportunity to catch slipped away, we're back to square one!" Sunflora said looking a little irritable.

"Maybe not, that isn't necessarily the case," Dusknoir said.

"Dusknoir, sir, is there something that you know that could provide some insight about what is going on?" Chatot asked.

"There are some clues," Dusknoir went on, "One Time Gear was at Fogbound Lake, guarded by Uxie, correct?" and everyone nodded at this. "Another Time Gear was at the Underground Lake, guarded by Mesprit, right?" and again they all nodded.

"Oh yeah, that reminds me," Ali said turning to the group and he explained that Mesprit knew that the Time Gear at Fogbound Lake was stolen because Uxie told her through telepathy.

"Whoa, Incredible," They all said with varied reactions.

"Now that really IS something," Loudred said thoughtfully.

"I should have known," Dusknoir muttered.

"What happened," Chikorita asked looking at the ghost type curiously.

"There's an ancient legend, Uxie is believed to be the being of knowledge and Mesprit is said to be the being of emotions. But three Pokemon in total represent the spirit world and keep the world at balance," Dusknoir said looking at the group, wondering if they what he was talking about.

"So besides Uxie and Mesprit, there's another Pokemon that shares this role?" Ali asked curiously and Dusknoir nodded.

"The final Pokemon in this trio is Azelf, and he is known as the Being of Willpower," Dusknoir explained. "Uxie and Mesprit both guarded Time Gears so it's highly likely that Azelf is guarding a Time Gear as well,"

"Oh I get it," Chimecho said, "If we can successfully locate Azelf then we can learn where the Time Gear is," she added "And we might have a chance at seeing and hopefully catching the thief Grovyle when he appears," she went on.

"That's correct, those three Pokemon Uxie, Mesprit, and Azelf all dwell at lakes. In fact both Uxie and Mesprit were found at lakes. This being the case, Azelf will most likely be found at a lake somewhere, let's bear in mind that Uxie's lake was at a high plateau and Mesprit's lake was found deep underground underneath Quicksand Desert," Dusknoir explained. "Both lakes were found in extremely unusual locations, and with this in mind it is likely that Azelf's lake is found in some unusual location somewhere," Dusknoir added.

"Oh, I get NOW! You're basically saying that you shouldn't look for water in the usual places," Loudred said.

"Yes, that is the general idea," Dusknoir commented.

"My, my, Dusknoir I admire your wisdom," Chatot said, beaming at the ghost type who smiled brightly at everyone.

"Thank you but your praise is too much," Dusknoir said sheepishly.

"No, we should respect you more too, you led Team Drive to Northern Desert and they figured out that there was a secret to this and they figured it out and found the Time Gear only to have it taken away by Grovyle," Dugtrio said with a grin.

"Oooooh, so maybe the other places we searched, Eastern Forest and Crystal Cave," Sunflora said excitedly.

"Crystal Cave was so beautiful, by golly," Bidoof said happily, while everyone else sweatdropped. "I couldn't help but get a crystal as a personal treasure," he added.

"I've got an idea," Dusknoir said suddenly. "Bidoof," Dusknoir called and he came over feeling nervous.

"What can I do for you?" he asked with a grin on his face.

"That crystal that you got, do you mind if we took a look at it for a few minutes," he asked.

Bidoof quickly shook his head saying that it was his personal treasure and he would keep it safe.

"I assure you, we are NOT going to take it away from you," Dusknoir said trying to reason with Bidoof.

Bidoof handed Dusknoir his crystal and Dusknoir told Ali to touch it and hopefully that will trigger a dimensional scream will be triggered.

The guild members were confused about what the dimensional scream was so Chikorita explained it to them: "Sometimes when Ali touches something, he will see either that object's past or he might see an event that may happen in the future," she explained and they were all surprised that he had something that special.

Bidoof, seeing no reason to deny Dusknoir's request, hands the crystal to Ali. Ali held it for a few seconds and he starts feeling dizzy and has a vision: Grovyle is at Crystal Cave and he has just defeated Azelf and is going to take the Time Gear.

"I saw something," Ali announced to the guild members and recounted what he saw and they were all surprised.

"So that Pokemon that you saw Grovyle knock out, do you think it was Azelf?" Corphish asked.

"Yes, I believe that Pokemon was Azelf," Ali said firmly.

"I've got a question too, Ali," Chimecho asked apprehensively. "Was a vision from the past or the future?" she asked.

_Come to think of it, visions from the past, visions from the future it's never clear WHEN my visions take place_ Ali thought to himself.

"I really don't know," Ali said sadly.

"Well since it's impossible to tell what Ali's vision is so it might as well be from the past which means that Grovyle has already gotten the Time Gear," Dugtrio said.

"What?" Chatot said in stunned disbelief, "You mean it's already too late," he demanded.

"Hold on," Dusknoir said, "Yes, it could easily be a vision from the past, or it could be a vision from the future," Dusknoir explained. "Now Chikorita; Who told Mesprit about the Time Gear being stolen? If I recall correctly, you said Uxie correct?" he asked.

"Yeah, you're not mistaken," said Chikorita nodding.

"So if Azelf had told Mesprit the Time Gear had stolen then Ali's vision would have been in the past, but that was not the case, since Uxie told Mesprit about the Time Gear being stolen, then this must be a vision from the future," he declared.

Everyone cheered as this thought and made to go to Crystal Cave to stop Grovyle, if Ali's stomach hadn't growled with Chikorita's following suit. Everyone sweatdropped but then they all started to laugh with Ali and Chikorita joining in too.

They all ate dinner that night and then went to sleep.

"Tomorrow we head to Crystal Cave and hopefully stop Grovyle from stealing that Time Gear," Ali said looking excited.

"C'mon, we'd better get some sleep or we'll be too tired to go," Chikorita said as they both quickly fell asleep.

So what did you thing? Like it, Love it, Hate it, tell me in a review. I've got plans for the Grovyle battle, I think its gonna be pretty awesome but I let you guys decide that for yourselves.

**READ AND REVIEW**

**Until next time Sora532 out.**


	17. Special Chapter: Chikorita

**Have you ever wondered what the partner's life was like before the hero meets him/her? I have, so this going to be my take on how Chikorita's life was like before she met Ali. I hope it's good and you guys might like it. I'm also gonna have Ali and Chikorita commentate a little bit so I'll end the flashback so that way it won't seem odd that Ali suddenly appears in the past or something like that.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters. As awesome as it would be to have those rights but let's face it, we all know that's never gonna happen.**

Ali's eyes snapped open. He had just had a weird dream and began thinking about it when he noticed that his bed wasn't the only that was empty that night.

_Where's Chikorita? _Ali thought as he looked around, feeling rather worried about her well-being. Ali decided to check the rest of the rooms but when he peered inside, his grass-type friend was not there.

_Did she maybe go outside? _Ali thought and against his better judgment because he was going to Crystal Cave the next day, he silently climbed the ladder and left the guild with no one any the wiser about what had happened and thought about where to go to search for her. Something in his heart and mind told him to go check at the beach so he followed his heart and saw Chikorita watching the waves move back and forth.

"Chikorita?" Ali asked quietly as he slowly approached and she gave a start as she turned around.

"Ali? What are you doing here?" Chikorita asked slowly.

"I should be asking you the same thing, but I woke up and found that you weren't in your bed so I came looking for you," said Ali.

"I'm sorry," said Chikorita meekly.

"Hey, no worries, so what were you doing out here all by yourself?" Ali asked curiously as he watched her stare at the night sky.

"I was just thinking," answered Chikorita as she sat down in the sand and turned her attention to the object of her affections.

"What were you thinking about?" Ali asked, sitting beside her and staring into her ruby red eyes that gave off a friendly and cheerful aura that he loved.

"I was thinking, how different my life would be if you and I had never met and how my life was like before we met," said Chikorita, turning her attention back to the sky and the stars.

"So, what were you like before we met?" Ali asked, clearly excited to get to know his partner much better than before.

"Well, it began like this…" Chikorita began as she began to recount her life story to her best friend and secret love.

**Flashback:**

"She's so beautiful," a female Meganium sighed in awe as she caressed the newborn with her vine whip.

_I just wish that everyone were here to see this _Meganium sighed as she led the baby outside into the sunlight and began talking to her as she brought her closer to the ground.

The baby Chikorita ran around happily, sniffing the air and most anything else that happened to be nearby. She laughed and giggled as she saw a berry nearby and made to chase after it but her mother called her back and they went home for the night.

They had lived with each other in peace for four years and on a certain day that was continuing on as it normally would but they were wrong.

The mother suddenly heard something and grabbed Chikorita with a pair of vine whips and held the grass-type protectively when suddenly, a pair of Seviper appeared out of a pair of bushes and made to attack the mother when the baby Chikorita hopped out of her mother's vines and faced them herself.

"Oh, so the baby's thinks that she can take us on, huh?" one of the Seviper sneered as a third one appeared and took the mother hostage.

"No, leave her alone!" Meganium cried but the Seviper thugs ignored her and Chikorita used a tackle, distracting the group long enough to free her mother and escape.

They ran for what felt like days until the reached the outskirts of a town but they also heard hisses and Meganium's fears were confirmed when she saw the Seviper gang surround her.

Meganium grabbed Chikorita with her Vine Whips and threw her towards Treasure Town and Chikorita made to go back to see that she was already gone.

**End of Flashback:**

Ali had never heard such a tearful story before, partly because he didn't have his own memories to compare against his partner but he didn't need his memories to know that Chikorita's experiences were still really bad.

"I'm so sorry, Chikorita," said Ali sadly, wrapping his tail around her back but was careful to prevent the flame from touching her while putting an arm on her shoulder and pulled her closer.

Chikorita was taken by surprise but leaned into his gentle touch, trying to keep the glee from showing and sighed in content before nodding.

"Can you keep telling me the story? It's actually very interesting," Ali requested and Chikorita complied.

**Flashback:**

A little more than a decade had passed and Chikorita had been unable to make any friends in Treasure Town. Perhaps it was because she was scared after what had happened to her mother that she was afraid to trust. She wasn't sure, as she was just a baby when it happened.

"What am I supposed to do?" Chikorita sighed as she explored Treasure Town but found nothing that she could do but that changed when she caught sight of a building that she guessed was a dojo.

Chikorita stepped inside to see a Marowak meditating.

"Hello?" Chikorita asked tentatively and Marowak slowly got to his feet before slowly turning to face her and then throwing his club at her; something that she was quick to avoid and dodged until it was back in his hand.

"What was that for?" she demanded and Marowak smiled.

"It was a test, and you passed," Marowak responded while Chikorita looked completely confused.

"What is this place?" Chikorita asked, looking around at the training equipment, not entirely sure what it was for.

"This is the Marowak Dojo; a place where Exploration Teams come to hone their skills, or at least they did before peace settled and it's been hard to find anyone willing to hone their skills," Marowak responded sadly and this caught the grass type's attention.

"Do you think you can help me become stronger?" asked Chikorita eagerly and Marowak beamed and immediately agreed to working with her.

Marowak first wanted to see how strong she was so he had her demonstrate all the moves she knew, which weren't very many but she showed him nonetheless: Tackle and Growl but neither of these moves truly had any power behind them.

"Okay, so now that I know what you're strengths and weaknesses are, I can create a training program that can help you get better and feel more confident about yourself," said Marowak and Chikorita's spirits soared highest than the highest cloud. She was finally going to be able to stand up for herself.

She bid Marowak farewell and headed back to her home and began thinking of new moves that she could learn but had no success for she wasn't sure about what moves a grass-type like her could learn so she made a mental note to go ask Marowak before watching the sunset from the mouth of Sharpedo Bluff and went to sleep soon after that with hopes of a better day tomorrow.

Chikorita raced to Marowak's dojo and saw him meditating and he noticed her presence and set her up with a shield and ordered her to attack it with a long range attack. Chikorita didn't know any long range attacks and Marowak sighed before grabbing a scroll and showing her how to use Vine Whip and Razor Leaf and set Chikorita to practice those two moves.

She had a really hard time mastering the move so she went back and studied the scroll and she managed to have a little bit of success but they weren't sufficient to attack a foe and once her session had ended, she took the scroll with her and resolved to study it and figure out how to use those moves.

She ended up stay all night and was pleased that she had managed to successfully stick her Razor Leaf into the side of a rock an inch in and her Vine Whips were two and half feet long and could move in a slight waving motion but not nearly able to actually strike so she went to sleep with hopes of catching a few hours of shut eye and resolved to work harder from tomorrow onward.

When Chikorita went back to the dojo the next day, she noticed that Marowak was not there and this caught her attention as he was always there before her. She looked around and saw a note:

_Chikorita,_

_I have come to have some confidence in your talents. Granted, it's not a whole lot but I believe you to be a Pokémon who wields great potential and one of the best ways to bring potential to the front lines is through experience. You will see a passage that will lead to a series of mazes. Navigate your way through the maze to get out. _

_Good Luck, _

_ Marowak._

"Alright, so where is that passage?" Chikorita asked herself and on cue, an opening appeared in the rock wall and revealed a passageway that Chikorita stared at cautiously before stepping inside and picked a maze at random and went in head on.

She immediately regretted this decision as she choose the Fire Maze and had no experience in battling so she dodged the attacks that her foes were sending at her while fending them off with her Razor Leaf.

Chikorita was pleased to see that they had taken a little bit of damage and that gave her some time to escape and she reached the end of the maze and found a sack waiting at the end, which contained a pair of Oran Berries.

Chikorita guessed that they would be useful and put them back in the sack before reaching the return point and saw Marowak smiling at her.

"Excellent job, Chikorita, excellent indeed," he smiled as Chikorita flushed with pleasure with her accomplishment but her next task made her groan; she had to fight at least ten Pokémon from the Fire Maze and win.

**End of Flashback:**

Ali couldn't help but pity Chikorita for all the training that she went through and she still didn't get the confidence boost that she was after.

"At least you had a way to defend yourself," said Ali helpfully while Chikorita shrugged though she was inwardly grateful that she had taken that training or else she wouldn't be able to help out on exploration like she can now with Ali.

**Flashback:**

"Okay, I'll start right away," said Chikorita, concealing a sigh as she walked towards the Fire Maze with dread filling her heart with every step she took. She could easily make a run for it. It wouldn't have been difficult but she doesn't want to be a coward so she pushed her fears aside and stepped through the maze and searched for foes to fight. Her search was rewarded with a gang of foes who looked ready to beat something to a pulp and they spotted her and approached with eager smirks on their faces.

Chikorita felt scared but she stood her ground and fought them. She was one grass type and there were five fire types but Chikorita dodged all of their attacks and tackled one, who stumbled into another and knocking them down. While the other three were distracted, Chikorita tripped them with her Vine Whip, which had much longer range than before and were much more powerful.

The Fire-types' rage reached a fever pitch as they launched a series of Flamethrowers at her, which she barely sidestepped in time before countering with a Razor Leaf, which was immediately burned to a crisp and she found herself surrounded and all the Fire types fired their flamethrowers right at her!

Chikorita's heart was racing faster than a bullet and right on instinct, she used her Vine Whip to jump over them and whipped them all in the faces with as much power as she could muster and knocked them unconscious. She smiled, pleased with herself and continued through the maze, using different combos to make up for her disadvantage and lack of experience.

A few minutes later, she made out of the maze and Marowak applauded her success so he gave her a small sack to hold her items and let Chikorita leave early so she decided to do a little exploring of her own and decided that since she wasn't very strong, she decided on Beach Cave and immediately set of to explore.

It was much easier to travel through this dungeon and it also helped that she had the advantage of type on her side this time around. So she managed to get through the cave with relative ease, picking up some of the items that she happened to find on the way.

When she reached the end, Chikorita saw a rock sitting at the edge of the water and decided to pick it up. When she examined the rock, she noticed that it had an enigmatic design etched into the side that was flat and decided to keep it so she pulled out a string from her pouch and tied it around the rock to prevent it from slipping and put on her neck.

Chikorita had a feeling that this could be an amazing discovery but had no idea what this was suppose to do, assuming that it was suppose to do anything to begin with. With this thought, the first thing that she wanted to do was start an exploration team but realized that she had no idea how despite the fact that she had lived there for a few years. She resolved to talk to Marowak about her feelings about creating an exploration team so with this thought in mind; she went back home and watched the sunset before drifting off to sleep.

The next morning, the grass-type raced to Marowak's dojo to see him meditating and waited for him to acknowledge her presence, which took all of about five minutes. Chikorita discussed her feelings about starting an exploration team and Marowak applauded her decision.

"If you are interested in forming an exploration team, you should to Wigglytuff Guild," suggested Marowak encouragingly.

"What's the Wigglytuff Guild?" Chikorita asked; looking and feeling confused.

"The Wigglytuff Guild is a world renown place for Pokémon who want to become explorers," answered Marowak as Chikorita began thinking about the opportunities available to her if she went through with this.

"Hold on, why couldn't Pokémon become explorers here at the dojo?" Chikorita asked.

"Because the dojo is designed to help a Pokemon become stronger, learn new moves and combinations for battle, it is not designed to help you learn how to explore more efficiently or to understand what an explorer must do," replied Marowak.

"I see, well I guess I'll give this 'Wigglytuff Guild' a try and see what happens," said Chikorita determinedly, causing Marowak to smile at his apprentice's new goal.

"Go forth and remember: never give up your dreams and don't give up on your goals," he loudly told her and she nodded before she practiced her moves a few times and left with a new resolve in her heart.

When Chikorita woke up the next day, she asked the Kecleon Bros. where the Guild was and they told her, "Just keep going straight and when you reached the crossroads, turn left."

"Thank you," she smiled as she ran off towards the guild. When she got there, she saw that there was a grate and eyed it warily before slowly stepping on it. When she heard the voices, they took her by surprise and she jumped off the grate and sighed in disappointment. She knew it would be awkward to try again after her failure so she explored Treasure Town more thoroughly than she would have normally done.

Chikorita stored her extra items in Kangaskhan Storage and handed her money over to Duskull bank. She couldn't believe that she hadn't explored Treasure Town as thoroughly as she did that day. Maybe she was too shy to do anything of the sort?

Anyway, the next few days, she tried again and each time, she failed miserably and at this point, she was losing hope of ever getting into the guild.

_Maybe it would be easier if you had a friend that could support you? _A voice in her head suggested and Chikorita thought about it curiously. She had never known friendship herself, but knew that it must be nice to have friends.

That night, she saw a shooting star and remembered the story that her mother told her: _If you see a shooting star, make a wish and it will come true! _At the time, it seemed like a joke but could she really have a wish come true? She wasn't sure but since the opportunity presented itself so she closed her eyes and began to think of her wish.

_I wish that I could have a friend, someone who will be by my side for as long as I live. _Chikorita thought hopefully as she concentrated on that wish and hoped with all her heart that maybe, just maybe, it might come true.

The next morning, she looked around eagerly but wasn't surprised when her wish did not come true.

_I can't expect my wish to come true overnight, maybe it might take some more time for my wish to be granted _Chikorita thought to herself as she left her home and played by herself on the beach. She had a good time but still felt lonely, owing to her lack of friends and prayed with all her heart that her wish would come true.

She remembered Marowak's words: _never give up on you dreams and don't give up on your goals_ and also taken to repeating those words in her head when she felt her hope drain from her body.

After several failed attempts of getting into the guild and having no success in finding a friend, Chikorita's mood had taken a turn for the worse. She wanted nothing more than to give up all hope and not go on with life. The weather also seemed to reflect her mood for it was a gloomy gray and hinting strongly at a thunderstorm so she rushed back to her home and took cover as she watched the rainfall.

"Maybe everything I've done, maybe it was all for nothing," Chikorita murmured to herself as she watched the rain fall harder than before. Something in her heart told her to keep trying but she was very much tempted to ignore it but decided to give her heart the benefit of the doubt and try again tomorrow.

The storm had ended the next morning and there were a few small puddles in Treasure Town but no one seemed to care so Chikorita just kept moving towards the Guild and vowed that this time, she would not get scared. When she got on the grate, the exact opposite of what she hoped happened, she was scared out of her mind and fled from the Guild and ran to the beach.

"That was scary," Chikorita thought as she sat down at the shore.

She watched the sunset and noticed the bubbles that the Krabby and Kingler were blowing. She couldn't help but notice how beautiful and _romantic _the view was for her.

"I resolved that I would become a part of an exploration team, but every time I try, I fail," she replied miserably.

Chikorita was too busy feeling miserable to notice a shooting star flying towards the ocean.

When she looked up, Chikorita saw something but wasn't sure what it was so just let it be for now and watched the sunset and went home.

The next day was just as miserable as the last and Chikorita felt that she should just give up on being an explorer but all thought of giving up and exploring were wiped from her mind when she saw the unconscious body of a Charmander.

Chikorita debated whether to wake the Fire-type up or not but pushed her fears aside and felt brave. She nudged him once before retreating and slowly approached and tried again before he regained consciousness.

**End of Flashback:**

"That explains everything, I've always wondered what your past was like but I didn't want to invade your private memories," said Ali and Chikorita smiled.

"Yeah, well, ever since we've met and became friends, I've always wanted to share my story with you, seeing as you are my first and best friend," Chikorita responded and Ali smiled widely, glad that his partner held him in such a high esteem.

"I would have wanted to share my story with you, if I could remember it," said Ali despondently and Chikorita patted his back sympathetically when Ali suddenly pulled her into a hug.

"I'm glad that I never gave up on my dream," the Grass-type told Ali who watched her, looking confused.

"Why's that?" Ali asked, noticing that a few stars were starting to disappear.

"Because we would have never met and become the awesome exploration team that we are now," Chikorita smiled and Ali took her paw in his hand before leading her back to the guild, while trying to conceal and crimson blush.

"Yeah, if we hadn't met, I would have been completely lost on what to do and where to go," Ali laughed as they headed back to their own rooms in hopes of getting at least a little sleep before the briefing that day.

**What do you guys think of this? I hope you liked reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. When I searched for back-stories, there are a few for the hero, but there are hardly any back-stories for the partner (if any at all!) so I decided to take the initiative and write one of my own.**

**Please R&R!**


	18. Decisive Battle: vs Grovyle

Hey there, I'm going to try to do two chapters in one day because I feet generous. I already uploaded the first of the two now here's the second of the two. Your reviews mean a lot to me and my story wouldn't be as interesting as it is if you guys hadn't encouraged me to keep going and giving me ideas. Thanks and here's the next Chapter. I have another story that I'm also working so my updates for this one might be a bit slow so bear with.

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon; I DO own the changes in Plot and the personalities of the characters.**

Chapter 17

Ali and Chikorita woke up the next morning looking excited about the prospect of catching Grovyle and get the stolen Time Gears back. The had everything that they need to ready to go:

Ali: Armor: Gold Crown

Ribbon x2

Orange Bow

Chikorita: Armor: Defense Scarf

Ribbonx2

They both had three Oran berries and 3 Max Elixirs ready in case they need them.

"I guess we're all set and ready to roll," Ali said with a grin.

"Hey, I want to come along," Piplup said angrily.

"You know, you really should bring her along, Ali," Chatot said approaching them.

"What makes you say that?" Ali asked looking at him, frowning.

"Well, she doesn't get much chance to go exploring with you two and the more help we get catching the thief, the easier it will be," Chatot went on.

"Well okay," Ali said, "But you're going to need some more armor than that," Ali said pointing to the ribbon that was tied around her neck. Piplup got a stamina band and special band. She also got 3 Oran berries and 3 Max Elixirs so when she needed to she could just heal herself. Plus she had eaten quite a few blue gummis and she had learned quite a few IQ skills

"Alright, NOW we're ready," said Chikorita cheerfully.

"Yeah let's go," everyone cheered as they all sprinted to Crystal Cave.

"I guess we can't just keep looking for the secret every step of the way," Piplup said as they approached the entrance.

"Well if that's the case then we should just get to the furthest point of the cave and they think about what we should do then," Ali said and Chikorita nodded in agreement.

"Let's go," Chikorita said as they sprinted into the cave.

(Cavern of Remembrance Music Starts to Play)

They quickly realize the reason that this place is called Crystal Cave; there are crystals as far as the eye can see and they all had taken one they had found for a personal treasure.

"Wow, the crystals here give off a really bright light," Ali said gazing at the sight.

"Yeah it would be a really _romantic _spot," Chikorita said looking at him lovingly. Piplup was the only one who noticed this and didn't like it one bit but she shrugged it off.

They had a fairly easy time fighting all the enemies that were here; Ali used Iron Tail in a vertical 1080-degree spin, Chikorita had finally learned Solarbeam, and Piplup used Water Pulse. They of course changed it up every now and again so that they wouldn't have to use their Max Elixirs right away and be in a tight spot when they needed them.

They came across some chests halfway into the cave.

"There," Ali said triumphantly as he opened them and there were a bunch of boosts (Protein, Iron, Calcium, and Zinc) x6 the second chest revealed to be an Oran Berry. Third had a Max Elixir, and the last had a heart necklace. Ali hid the necklace in a secret compartment in the treasure bag so that neither girl would notice.

"C'mon, let's keep moving," Ali was saying as they fought some Floatzel, Wormadam, and Golem. Ali took the Wormadam down with Flamethrower; Chikorita took out the Floatzel with a combination of Sweet Scent and Energy Ball and Piplup defeated the Golem with Bubblebeam.

"We made it pretty far," Chikorita said.

"Wow, look at those huge crystals," Ali said gazing at the crystals before him.

"I wonder if there is a secret here too," Chikorita said as she leaned on the on the crystal and to everyone's surprise it turned orange.

"Chikorita? You do know that you just changed the crystal to orange right," Ali said, hands behind his head.

"I did what?" she asked looking confused and then looked at the crystal and then she understood and looked really shocked.

"You guys have to try this," Chikorita yelled happily, "It's tons of fun," she said cheerful. Ali and Piplup sweatdropped, exchanged a glance, and then shrugged as they each touched one crystal.

Ali touched one of the and then you know what happens: Dimensional Scream Time. The vision, well all Ali heard was a voice that said: _Hmm Azelf is the being of willpower, so if we want to proceed further we will have to change the color of the crystal so that they will all match each other. The only thing left is what is that color?_ The vision ended there.

"Hey, Chikorita, Piplup," he called over to the two.

The moment they saw the expression on his face they figured out what had happened.

"Ali, did you have a dimensional scream?" Chikorita asked and Ali nodded.

"I've got a plan but I'm going to need your help," Ali said and they both nodded without any hesitation.

"What's the plan then?" Piplup asked.

"Well we're gonna have to change them all to the same color,…………… and I think I know what that color is," Ali said after thinking for a few minutes.

"Okay, both of you change your crystal color to blue," Ali said while he quickly changed his to Blue.

"Alright," Chikorita called and she and Piplup continued tapping the Crystal until it turned blue.

Suddenly the three crystals started to glow and source of pure energy appeared and they quickly ran out of the way and a huge crystal appeared and it had a huge fissure in it.

"This passage has must lead to Azelf's lake," Piplup said as she, Chikorita, and Ali sprinted into the cavern and began exploring Crystal Crossing.

"This like Crystal Cave just twice as hard," Piplup muttered as she knocked out another Golem.

"C'mon give me already," Ali said looking rather tired having defeated ten Golems, fifteen Floatzels, a bunch of Beldums, and a bunch of other Pokemon Ali didn't remember.

"Let's rest for a few minutes," Chikorita said and Piplup and Ali readily agreed and they were both panting and Chikorita sat there also panting because she had defeated the same number of enemies as Ali but she wasn't as tired because she had used synthesis to keep herself charged up.

"You're really good this," Ali said to Chikorita who blushed deeply. "Are you some kind of hero?" he asked her.

Again she blushed and playfully shoved him and said, "You know that I'm no hero, the only reason that I came to be who I am today is because I met you," she added and Ali started to blush slightly and Chikorita smirked at Piplup who glared in jealousy.

"Is that a challenge?" Piplup snapped suddenly.

"Maybe," Chikorita said with a smirk.

"That's it," she yelled and she and Chikorita had gotten into a cartoon style fight and Ali merely sat there and sweatdropped.

"Save your energy for Grovyle," Ali said breaking up the fight. He was holding Chikorita front paw in one of his own and was doing the same with Piplup's flipper in his other paw. They both blushed deeply when they had made contact with him.

"C'mon," Ali said and they all sprinted further into Crystal Crossing and like in Crystal Cave they found some chests. These one's were smaller than the other one's they came across.

"Okay," Ali said as he opened the chest to reveal 4000 poke placed in a sack. Ali picked up the sack of money and placed in the treasure bag.

"We made it," Ali said happily when they finally made it to Crystal Lake and they were thoroughly relieved that the vision Ali had at the guild was one from the future because they still saw the eerie green glow that only a time gear gave off.

"Hey what's that?" Chikorita asked noticing a few Pokemon at a platform not far from where they were standing.

Ali somehow managed to get a closer look and saw Azelf looking as though he had just had a battle of his life. He also looked exhausted and tired because he had used up too much energy. He also saw Grovyle standing there, looking as though the battle hadn't done anything to him.

"Uh-oh, you guys we gotta hurry," Ali yelled as he and the others ran and after a few minutes of running caught up to Grovyle.

"I will be taking it, the Time Gear," he said.

"N-no," Azelf said, "Grovyle, I won't let you take it," he said.

"How do you know my name?" he asked quietly.

"Mesprit and Uxie told me through telepathy, I was hoping that I could defeat you here but I also considered the possibility of me losing so I set up a fail-safe system to protect the Time Gear," he said.

Azelf's eyes glowed and the out of the water appeared loads of crystals that were crossing into each other, creating a sealed gate to prevent Grovyle from getting the Time Gear.

"Y-you," Grovyle said, his voice trembling with anger, "I mean to have that Time Gear and I will get it, even at the cost of your life," he said angrily.

"You're through!" a voice yelled as a flamethrower popped out of nowhere and took Grovyle by surprise and hit him in the shoulder and he was knocked to the ground and Ali appeared along with Chikorita and Piplup standing on either side of him.

"I have no quarrel with any of you," Grovyle said coldly who had tried to force them out of the way with Leaf Blade but Chikorita timed Reflect and Ali used Guard while Piplup used her flipper to block it and the attack did no damage.

(13th Dilemma starts to play)

Grovyle jumped to a higher ledge and started firing Bullet Seed rapidly and Ali guarded the attack and forced him down. Once he was lower Ali did a barrage of Iron tails and finished with 1080-degree spinning Iron Tail with a Flamethrower follow up. Grovyle moved around the field really fast and he had barraged Piplup with Energy Ball and she had fainted but not before using Ice Beam and slowing him down slightly.

"Chikorita!" Ali yelled and she nodded firing off Magical Leaf while Ali hit them with Iron Tail to give them more power and they kept this up for seven more hits and then Grovyle had distracted them with a luminous orb and landed a full combo of Leaf Blade on Ali. Ali managed to Time guard to block the damage, Chikorita wasn't as lucky because she managed to block 3 quarters of them with her reflect but she ran out move points so while she restored it she was quickly attacked and nearly fainted.

"Oh yeah?" Grovyle said as he fired another Bullet Seed that Ali dodge rolled away from unharmed. He used dig and concealed himself underground. Chikorita used reflect to block it but Ali wasn't so lucky. He was knocked into the air but quickly recovered and landed on his feet.

Grovyle used Dig again and Ali stayed in the air as much as possible and Grovyle used Brick Break to destroy Chikorita's reflect and she was knocked out before she could use synthesis or Giga Drain.

"I guess you're the only one left," Grovyle said with a smirk on his face.

"I don't care, I won't let you steal that time gear," he said sprinting towards Grovyle who dashed away using Quick Attack and used it as his next attack which Ali remembered to guard and was close enough so Ali seized this opportunity and also called on his ability Blaze to start a much more powerful combo and he went berserk with slash not letting Grovyle gain so much as an opportunity to attack and he finished by knocking him into the air.

Ali took this opportunity to revive his fallen allies and they were back in the game ready to battle to the finish.

"Piplup," Ali called and she nodded and Ice crystals formed out of nowhere and she fired them at Grovyle and he was so surprised that he couldn't dodge it. He tried to attack but he found that he wasn't able to do any damage to Ali or his friends while they were doing these combinations. She kept this up while floating next to Ali and he would occasionally whack them at Grovyle with his Iron Tail to add an extra bit of power behind the ice.

The battle is over and the trio won that one… or did they?

(13th Dilemma Stops playing and Riku's theme from KH2 starts playing)

"How'd you like that?" Ali said smugly, looking at the injured Grovyle in front of him.

"Humph," he said and he knocked out all three at once. Chikorita couldn't talk and Ali and Piplup couldn't move at all.

"Get out of my way," Grovyle said angrily.

_I might not be able to talk, but I am not going to stand aside and let Grovyle take the Time Gear. _Chikorita thought.

_Wow, Chikorita has a lot of guts not to give in like that, I guess its one of things that I admire about her. I gotta help Chikorita _he thought trying to move but couldn't.

"If you won't move I'm gonna make you move," he said and sprinted towards her but was grabbed by Dusknoir.

_Dusknoir _Chikorita thought and sighed in relief.

"Are you alright, Chikorita?" he asked, "I'll take it from here," he added and forcing him to the ground.

"I'm surprised to see you here," Grovyle said calmly.

"What did you expect?" Dusknoir asked frowning.

"Let's settle this, right here right now," Grovyle said.

"Fine, but do you think that you can win against ME?" he asked.

"We'll soon see," he said smirking and they began to fight until Grovyle pulled out an orb and threw it to the ground and the whole cave burst into a blinding light and everyone had to cover their eyes.

When the light had faded, they saw that Grovyle had vanished.

"Gah, that blasted Grovyle, he didn't intend to fight me at all," Dusknoir said angrily, "But can he win against ME?" he demanded as he also faded into the darkness.

(Riku's theme fades out into the background)

_Dusknoir_ was the last thing Chikorita thought before she passed out.

"Uh-oh," Corphish said, "We'd better the four of them back to the guild for treatment," he added.

"Oh my gosh, we'd better hurry then," Sunflora said grabbing Chikorita and Piplup, while Corphish grabbed Ali and Azelf and they used an Escape Orb and they teleported back to the guild.

Time skip:

Ali, Chikorita, Piplup, and Azelf were sleeping in beds in Ali and Chikorita's room. Ali was the first one to wake up and he looked around he saw that everyone had bandages and he found that his crown had been taken off and lay on the bedside table. He put it on and saw that Chikorita was looking at him. Ali got out of bed and gave her a one-armed hug, his other arm being broken but Chikorita blushed all the while. Chikorita seemed to have come out unscathed but she was unconscious so she had to rest.

Piplup came out of the battle with a broken flipper. Ali pitied her and gave her a bit of sympathy by also giving her a one-armed hug and she blushed a deep shade of red. Ali was tired so he went back to his bed and almost fell asleep, but Chimecho came to check on them.

"Oh, you're awake," she said looking at the quartet who nodded. She then called in the rest of the guild who cheered when they found out what they had done. Chatot and the Guildmaster had personally congratulated Ali, Chikorita, and Piplup for holding off Grovyle long enough until Dusknoir showed up then Grovyle escaped.

"Magnemite said that we have to go to Treasure Town so that Dusknoir can explain the situation more clearly to us," Chimecho said looking at the quartet who exchanged a glance and nodded as they all got out bed except for Piplup who promptly went back to sleep because she was so tired.

Dusknoir explained everything from Grovyle being an outlaw from the future, and to his evil plan of putting the planet into paralysis by stealing the Time Gears. Everyone was surprised at these statements. Corphish then pointed out that Dusknoir shouldn't know any of this if he was a regular Pokemon like himself or anyone else from this time period. Dusknoir then explained that he was also a Pokemon from the future and that truly took everyone by surprise.

Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf came up with a plan to catch Grovyle and it required everyone's cooperation. The plan was for all the exploration teams to spread a rumor far and wide saying that the trio of Pokemon is going to seal away the Time Gear for good and they actually have to do it and then that's when they'd get the jump on Grovyle.

Everyone agreed to the plan until Dusknoir requested to do it solo and gave really good reasons as to why they should agree. Everyone gave their consent reluctantly but they agreed to spread the rumor.

The guild members went back to the guild and ate dinner and Ali and Chikorita headed back to their room.

"I wish we could have gone to catch Grovyle," Chikorita said irritably.

"We've done everything in our power to help," Ali said wisely, "The rest is up to Dusknoir," he added.

"C'mon, we'd better get to sleep," he said looking out the window and going to sleep and Chikorita stayed awake a few minutes longer thinking about her feelings for Ali. _I don't get it; do I really love him? Is that why Piplup and I have been fighting for Ali's heart?_ She wondered as she fell asleep.

Goodnight Ali…

That's that, what do you think? Like it? Love it? Hate it? Tell me in a review. I know I used a lot of Kingdom Hearts references. I was fighting Saix on my TWTNW save file in 2 and both songs appeared within a short time span. See ya.

**Until next time, Sora532 out.**


	19. Preparation and Training

Hey guys, thanks for reviewing my story you guys, my eyes have been stinging for a few hours from lack of sleep. I NEED MORE SLEEP. If anyone has any suggestions, let me know.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon or any of its characters, I DO own the plot changes and the character personalities.

Chapter 18

Ali and Chikorita had woken up the next morning and went to the briefing and everyone had returned to their normal jobs for the time being until they got more news about what was going at Dusknoir's end.

Ali and Chikorita sprinted up the ladder and checked out the jobs and they found one that involved them exploring a new place called Lunar Cave. They went exploring with a Kricketot, they found out that it was a long journey and felt immensely grateful that they had stocked up on supplies before heading out.

"So this is Lunar Cave?" Ali asked looking at the cavern before them.

"Yeah, I heard that there are all kinds of rare treasures that can be found in there," Kricketot said with a grin.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Chikorita demanded, "Let's go," she yelled and they all ran into the cave so they could begin exploring.

They found quite a bit of money lying around so of course they took it. They came across a few chests and Ali opened them to reveal Proteins and Irons in one chest. They both drank all of those vitamins so they would be stronger and have better defenses. The second one contained a midnight blue chain that had a cosmic feel to and Ali put it on with his two ribbons. The third had some money that Kricketot took because he said he was in debt.

"Okay then," was Ali response while he sweatdropped.

"Wow Ali you could pretty good," Chikorita complemented on his Cosmic Chain and Ali said a word thanks.

"We can deal with this later, let's just keep going," Kricketot said impatiently while Team Drive blushed slightly and they agreed to keep moving forward.

"Wow," Ali said in awe when they saw the view, it was something altogether completely different because it was cave but is filled with starlight along with moonlight.

"This is a very romantic spot for a couple," Chikorita muttered to herself and Ali was thinking along those lines as well.

_The next time we come here, I'll give Chikorita this necklace _Ali thought with a grin appearing on his face because he liked his secret little idea.

"Hey you guys," Kricketot said to the duo.

"What is it?" Ali asked turning to the bug type.

"Look at that," Kricketot said pointing at the starlight that had turned red. Ali also noticed that Chikorita's ruby necklace was also glowing.

"Hey, Chikorita your necklace is glowing," Ali called.

"It is?" she said surprised and when she looked at the necklace, she was surprised that it was indeed glowing.

"Do you think that the lights in the cave reacted to the gem in Chikorita's necklace?" Kricketot asked, eying the necklace in curiosity.

Chikorita noticed this and she put the necklace under the scarf. Kricketot was still staring at her and she started growling at him and then he looked away.

_I wonder why Kricketot was staring at me? Was he interested in my necklace, well he can't have it, Ali gave it to me and its very important, _she thought to herself fiercely.

"I think that we should head back," Ali suggested and both Chikorita and Kricketot agreed and everyone left the area.

"Thanks for your help," he said and he handed them a bunch of gummis which they both quick to eat and they also went up in rank and Chatot handed them a platinum colored badge.

"Well, since its still really early, what do you want to do?" Ali asked, hands behind his head.

"I feel like doing another job," Chikorita said.

"Or two," Ali said.

They took five jobs from the same area and went to complete them. They went to Mt. Horn and defeated three outlaws, and rescue two Pokemon. We defeated a Scizor, Gliscor, and Gabite. They were all really difficult to beat because they were all really fast and agile. Ali pulled off a few lucky breaks and knocked them out.

Chikorita grabbed the clients that were being terrorized by Pokemon using her vine whip and she saved them. She then assumed the position of the mother while they searched for the other Pokemon in need of rescue. She did this because these Pokemon were really young and they must have gotten lost while climbing up the mountain.

They found the other Pokemon that was in trouble and Chikorita did the same thing.

"Mission accomplished," Ali said happily as they reached for the summit. They had two young Pokemon with them as well so they all just stared out into the view at midday.

"Chikorita, those two have to get back to their parents, they can't stay here," Ali said as he pulled out an Escape orb.

"Little ones, come here," Chikorita called and they obeyed and Ali held the orb in the air and they were at the guild. The young Pokemon were really happy to be with their parents again but they gave Ali and Chikorita a hug before they left.

"Well I guess that's it," Chikorita said sadly.

"I have something for you," Ali said with a grin and he held out a necklace that he said had special powers.

"I feel…magical," said Chikorita when she put it on.

"Yeah, that's how your supposed to feel when you equip it because it makes your grass type moves twice as powerful as normal," Ali said.

"Where'd you find it?" she asked.

"I found it in a chest while we were exploring with that Kricketot," he explained and she understood.

"Well, I saw a flyer about a new tournament over at the training site," Ali said excitedly. "I want to compete in it," he added as an afterthought. "What'll you do?" Ali asked Chikorita who had frowned.

"Geez Ali, do you have to ask?" Chikorita said looking irritable. Ali started laughing when he saw her expression.

"Hey, what's so funny?" she demanded.

"Your face," he said, tears forming in his eyes because he was laughing so hard. Chikorita looked into a pond and she started laughing, because it looked so funny.

"I'll compete with you in the tournament this time around Ali," Chikorita said with a smile and Ali nodded his satisfaction.

"Okay then," Ali said as he and Chikorita sprinted to the training site and asked the Machoke there if they could compete in this tournament.

"Yeah, you see this one is really special because if you win, you can choose to change you crown color to red, white, blue, green, or yellow," he explained. Plus there is always the Bronze Cup he said.

"This is a standard tournament with ten rounds," Machoke said as he approached the waiting teams.

"Ready and Begin," he yelled.

It was Ali and Chikorita and vs. Turtwig and Chimchar. Ali took on Chimchar while Chikorita took on Turtwig. It took a few minutes but Chikorita and Ali won the first round.

Second Round: Ali and Chikorita vs. Sunflora and Croagunk.

Third Round: Ali and Chikorita vs. Corphish and Cyndaquil.

Fourth Round: Ali and Chikorita vs. Jolteon and Ditto.

Fifth Round: Ali and Chikorita vs. Kingler and Psyduck.

Sixth Round: Ali and Chikorita vs. Gengar and Snowrunt.

Seventh Round: Ali and Chikorita vs. Kadabra and Phanpy.

Eight Round: Ali and Chikorita vs. Grovyle and Dusclops. This is a round where they both went berserk. Mainly because they hated Grovyle for stealing the Time Gears and Dusclops reminded them of Dusknoir and that placed the thought that they had teamed up to cause the planet's paralysis. The foes managed to put up a good fight and did really well even though Chikorita and Ali had gone berserk but in the end they were defeated.

Semi Finals: Ali and Chikorita vs. Rhyhorn and Tauros. This was also an intense battle because they were actually a lot faster than they looked and they were really strong so it was hard to guard their hits but eventually Chikorita managed to defeat Rhyhorn with reflect and her counterattack combo.

Ali had to use Guard to block the Tauros's Giga Impact. "Boy was that lucky," he muttered as he did an Air Combo of Iron Tails and did a 1080-degree spinning Iron Tail as his finisher and that knocked Tauros out.

The Final Round: Ali and Chikorita vs. Blaziken and Infernape.

"We are at a huge disadvantage here," Chikorita said looking disappointed but she kept a determined face going.

"Well type advantage never guarantees the outcome of a battle," Ali said as he shook hands or paws with his opponents and Chikorita didn't want to get burned so she merely nodded.

(Rage Awakened starts to play)

Blaziken started thing off by firing a flamethrower and Ali sprinted away while Chikorita used reflect to block the damage and it hit Blaziken so she quickly hit her with a powerful ground combo and finished with Energy Ball.

Ali was in physical combat with Infernape, every time Infernape launched a punch or kick, Ali would just dodge roll away. Infernape jumped and used Mach Punch which Ali guarded using Flamethrower and the fist vanished and Ali seized this opportunity to pull of a massive air combo with an Iron Tail finisher.

Everyone was really tired at this point; Infernape was getting tired from the physical combat with Ali and Blaziken was getting fatigued from firing her flamethrower and blaze kick. Ali was getting tired from dodging and trying to counter Infernape's attacks and only was able to manage half a combo. Chikorita was also tired for the same reason as Ali.

(Rage Awakened stops playing)

The fire-fighting team was too tired to continue and they collapsed with large swirls over their eyes. Ali and Chikorita were happy that they won another tournament and they each picked up one of the cup's handles and raised it into the air for the whole crowd to see.

Everyone was cheering until Ali suddenly collapsed from exhaustion. Machoke quickly took the Bronze Cup and put on a pedestal next to the silver cup and placed a glass case over it.

Chikorita helped carry Ali back to the guild with Machoke helping out.

Ali woke up in his bed a few hours later, and saw Chikorita's worried face come into focus.

"Hey Chikorita, what's up?" Ali asked groggily and Chikorita ran up to him and gave him a tight hug.

"Can't…breathe," Ali eventually managed to squeak out and Chikorita let go of him so he could get some air back into his system.

"Sorry," Chikorita said, sitting on his bed.

"It's fine," Ali chirped, "Just needed a little air is all," he said and Chikorita giggled.

"Well you've been out cold for a few days now," Chikorita said grimly.

"A few DAYS?" Ali asked stunned, "Why didn't you tell me? I would have helped," he asked.

"Ali you needed to rest, there was so much strain on your body that if you had continued your standard work schedule, you would have been in critical condition," Chikorita said sadly.

"I see," said Ali, "So what happened while I was out cold?" he asked.

"Well nothing new, all I did was just do some jobs and kept our teaming going while you were out of commission, somewhat like what you did when I was out cold after that battle with Team Skull," Chikorita explained.

"Okay, I get it now," Ali said.

"Well I brought some Pecha juice," she said handing him a glass of the pink liquid.

"Thanks Chikorita," Ali said gratefully and she beamed at him and gave him another hug and he blushed slightly.

"C'mon, its dinner time," Chikorita said, taking one of Ali's arms and helping him support his weight.

They ate dinner in the mess hall and went back to their room and went to sleep thinking about how the battle between Grovyle and Dusknoir doing.

That's a wrap. Well what did you think? Did you like it, love it, or hate it. Tell me in a review. Oh yeah, I'm thinking about doing a Truth or Dare fanfic. I've read quite a few others to know that if I used script format that it will get deleted. I've got a back up plan for that so I set up a poll. If you guys think that I should go for it then I'll do it once I finish My Team Valor Story.


	20. Going to the Future

**Not much to say here, I got Chapter 19 here, I hope you like it. Oh yeah and thanks Luna La Pond TS Rugby Girl for reviewing most if not all my chapters from the start. You are my very first reviewer and I thank you for that.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon or any of its characters, I DO own the plot changes and character personalities.**

Chapter 19

Ali and Chikorita woke up the next morning and ran to the briefing to find that there was still no new news about Dusknoir's ongoing battle with Grovyle. They had no idea that it was all about to change.

"We still have no news about the battle," Chatot said with a sigh. That all changed when they heard Magnemite calling from the grate.

"BBBZT can I have your attention?" Magnemite requested and everyone fell silent at once, interested in what Magnemite had to say. "I'm pleased to bring this announcement," he began, "We are pleased to report that Grovyle the thief has finally been caught," he said cheerfully.

When everyone heard this everyone cheered with as much happiness as he or she possibly could and more.

"That's so awesome," Sunflora said looking really happy.

"He said that he is going to head home, back to the future today," Magnemite said to the saddened Guild. "He said that he wanted you all to be there to say goodbye to him when the time has come," he added.

"How do you go…back?" Loudred wondered out loud.

"I do not claim to know the process," Magnemite said. "But from what he explained, he said that he would open a dimensional hole and that will lead him back to the future," Magnemite explained while the guild members became even more sad.

"Well, what are we doing standing here," Ali said, "Let's go," he declared and everyone nodded and they all headed out to Treasure Town so they could all say goodbye. Wigglytuff asked Piplup to watch over the guild and they all said goodbye and they headed out.

The guild members saw all the residents in Treasure Town and they all started talking to each other about how Grovyle was finally caught and how relieved they were that it was finally over.

"I don't see the Great Dusknoir yet, hey, hey," Corphish said looking around.

"What's THAT?" Loudred asked, approaching the Dimensional Hole. Just as he was about to touch it, Officer Magnezone stopped him.

"Stop, if you touch that it will send you straight to the future," he said grimly and Loudred, Sunflora and Corphish were shocked.

Chikorita noticed Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie and called them over, "Hey Mesprit, Azelf and Uxie," she said looking out the trio.

"Chikorita," Uxie said as the Pokemon moved aside so that they could get a better look at them.

"You're all safe, am I glad to see that," Chikorita said happily.

"Naturally, plus you and Ali were quite an asset for the capture," Mesprit said with a smile at the pair.

"Us, How?" Ali asked looking bewildered.

"Well if it wasn't for your Dimensional Scream, and you fought and weakened Grovyle enough so that the next time we met, we were the stronger ones," she explained and Team Drive cheered.

"So the plan was successful?" Chikorita asked.

"Yep, I gotta hand it to Dusknoir, the plan was flawless, it worked like a charm, we caught Grovyle, and we got the Time Gears that he stole back," Azelf said happily.

"That's good to hear," Ali said nodding his approval.

"Dusknoir should be here shortly," Uxie said.

"Who's that?" a resident Ursaring asked.

"It's the great Dusknoir," a resident Teddiursa said, as the figure got closer.

"Here's the great Dusknoir," said the Kecleon Brothers in unison.

"Everyone, MAKE WAY," Loudred said as he moved out of the way and everyone else quickly following suit.

Two Sableye appeared one in front of the gagged and tied up Grovyle and one behind him with Dusknoir bringing up the rear.

"Th-that's," Bidoof stuttered.

"That's Grovyle?" Kecleon asked.

"He looks like a BAD guy, that's for sure," Loudred said with a contemptuous glance at the Pokemon.

"Heh, it's really great that they finally caught him, I thought he would actually succeed in causing the planet's paralysis," Ursaring said with a grin.

"That's right. The world was nearly pushed into oblivion because him," Teddiursa said angrily.

The group had stopped in front of the Dimensional Hole and the Sableye kept a firm grip on Grovyle, Dusknoir turned to the group.

"Everyone!" he called and everyone had given him his or her undivided attention. "Today I would like to share excellent news with all of you," he said. "The Master Thief Grovyle has finally been caught," he declared and everyone burst out into loud cheers and some had even started to cry.

"This was all made possible by your selfless support and cooperation, I really can't thank you enough," he said and everyone burst into a set of happy cheers.

"As you can see, Grovyle is a vicious a wicked Pokemon, his capture should result in everlasting peace for your world," he said pleasantly.

Grovyle reacted at this as starting saying things that sounded like "Mmmmmf! MMMMMF!" he yelled but no one could understand, not like anyone really tried anyway.

"It looks like they have Grovyle muzzled," Ali said a little sad. "He can't say a word like that," he added.

"But…I must also deliver a sad piece of news as well, it's time for me to return to the future. Everyone! I must now bid you all farewell," he said looking sadly at the group who had become really sad and some burst into tears about Dusknoir's departure.

"Oh, so that part was true? Hey, hey…" Corphish said sadly.

"I'm feeling the blues…there was so much I wanted to learn from you, yup, yup," Bidoof said sadly.

"Uxie…Mesprit…Azelf…the rest is up to you three," Dusknoir said, turning his attention to the legendary trio.

"We know, we got all the Time Gears that Grovyle stole and we're planning to put them back in their respective places right away," Mesprit said calmly.

"I'll leave it up to you," Dusknoir said.

"ZZZT, Thank you so much, for everything," Officer Magnezone said. "You have literally saved us all ZZZT!" he added.

"Oh, no, no, think nothing of it," Dusknoir said. "You have been most kind and helpful to me," Dusknoir said. "I hope that you continue to work to preserve the peace of this world," he added.

"ZZZT! Yes! You can depend on that," Magnezone assured the ghost type.

"Now…I'm afraid the time has now come," Dusknoir said sadly and the two Sableye pushed Grovyle into the Dimensional Hole and they all vanished.

"Everyone and though it pains me to say this…" Dusknoir said.

"Ooogie…I hate sad good-byes!" Sunflora said, eyes welling up with tears.

"I h-h-hope we'll see you again…" Diglett said, his eyes also welling up with tears.

_Why's everyone crying?_ Ali thought. _We'll see him again; I know it. _Ali thought with a determined face. _I got a feeling something bad is going to happen to Chikorita and I, _Ali thought nervously.

"Wah! Dusknoir," Chatot said bursting into tears.

"Oh yes, before I go, there are two special Pokemon that I need to see; Chikorita and Ali, would you come here?" he requested and they both replied though Ali came forward very reluctantly.

"That's us Ali, let's go up there," Chikorita said with tears in her eyes as she approached Dusknoir and Ali sighed and followed suit.

"I guess this is good-bye, Dusknoir sir, for everything that you've done…Thank you! Sincerely!" Chikorita said with tears in her eyes, while Ali sweatdropped.

"Well…this is…goodbye…or is it?" he muttered.

"Pardon," Chikorita said looking confused but Ali figured it out.

"It's too soon for farewells!" he yelled, the mouth on his stomach opening up and Ali forced Chikorita out of the way and Dusknoir grabbed Ali.

"You're coming with me," he declared as he dragged Ali into the Dimensional Hole.

Chikorita wasn't about lose her lover…er I mean partner without a fight no matter who it was and she grabbed his arm using her Vine Whip and Dusknoir merely yanked her in with him.

"My gosh," Sunflora said shocked.

"Ali, Chikorita," Chimecho called.

"What just happened," Corphish asked looking stunned as the Dimensional Hole disappeared.

Ali, Chikorita, Dusknoir, and Grovyle were spinning uncontrollably into the Time Stream and they all fell in different areas. Ali and Chikorita were unconscious from the experience.

"Ali, Ali, Ali, please wake up," Chikorita said desperately and Ali began to stir.

"Where are we?" he asked getting to his feet and looking around.

"I think this is a jail cell," Chikorita said looking around.

"Well, we'll see about that," he said as he attacked the door but to no avail.

Chikorita tried attacking the door too but she had no more luck than he did.

"I know," Ali said and he used his tail as a key and to his surprise it actually worked and the door opened.

"Wow, I didn't think that would work," Chikorita confessed.

"Yeah, I didn't think it would work either," Ali admitted, "But remember all those times where we used my tail as a key and opened the chests?" he asked and Chikorita nodded. "Well I decided to see if the same concept held true for doors," he explained.

"That's really cool Ali," Chikorita said with a smile and Ali blushed slightly and felt immensely grateful that it was dark so she couldn't see his blush.

"Well, what have we here, an attempt at escape," one of the Sableye sneered at the trapped duo.

"We're surrounded," Chikorita said looking around and they stood against each other back to back.

"It's no use, we've gotta fight," Ali said looking around at the foes, sizing them up and trying to plan an escape.

"Well this makes things a lot easier," one of the Sableye said with a sneer and tied them up and put blindfolds on them and dragged them out the door.

They woke up in a stockade where they were tied to pillars. Ali was in the center and Chikorita was to his right.

"Where are we?" Chikorita asked.

"You're in a stockade where they'll get rid of you," a voice to Ali's left said. Light flashed down on it to reveal Grovyle.

"What do you mean get rid of us?" Chikorita demanded. "We've done nothing wrong," she said angrily.

"You've clearly done something that made them angry," Grovyle said indifferently.

"What did we do," Chikorita demanded angrily. "I can understand why they would want to get rid of you but why us?" she added looking really angry.

Grovyle merely stared out into the distance and Ali sighed. Suddenly, the door swung open and six Sableye and Dusknoir floating in the center appeared.

"Who the heck are they?" Ali asked.

"They are Sableye, they are the sadistic jailers and Dusknoir's underlings," Grovyle said thinking that Ali was being stupid.

"Dusknoir sir, what's going on?" Chikorita asked in desperation.

"Shhh there's no point trying to call out to him," Grovyle muttered, "Keep your voice down," he added.

"Keep it down?" Chikorita asked looking confused.

"Hey you," Grovyle whispered to Ali.

"Me?" Ali whispered back.

"Yeah, what can you do right now?" he asked.

"You ask me that right out of the blue?" he muttered and began to think. What could he do right now. He had three choices: 1) Use an Item: "No that won't work," Ali said to himself, "We're tied up and can't move," he muttered. 2) Use a move: "Hmm, that could work but my hands (paws) are tied up and I can't move and I can't conjure up the energy required for any fire attacks right now," he muttered. 3) Attack: "Yes, this'll work nicely, I've got to tell Chikorita and Grovyle," he muttered.

"Attack?" Grovyle muttered and Ali and Chikorita nodded and he nodded in agreement.

"Listen," Grovyle muttered as the Sableye were readying their attacks. "Sableye use sharp claws to attack,"

"Claws, that sounds scary," Chikorita said and Ali sighed.

"If even one of them slashes at the rope, we can use that to escape," he muttered, ignoring Chikorita's comment.

"But Grovyle, what if the Fury Swipes don't hit the ropes, or what if they don't even use Fury Swipes at all," Chikorita said, looking scared.

"If that happens, then we're history," Grovyle said grimly.

"Don't pay them any heed, especially that Grovyle and they fired a frenzy of Fury Swipes and a combo of them hit the rope and they broke free and that stunned everyone and then Grovyle pulled out an Orb, threw it to the ground and they were enveloped in light and then they vanished, or at least, that's what Dusknoir thought.

"They must have escaped thru the door," Dusknoir said and he and his minions headed for the doorway.

Once they were gone, Grovyle, Chikorita, and Ali popped out of the ground.

"I forgot that Grovyle could use Dig," Ali muttered. "He sure knows a lot of moves," he added.

"Bleck, I got dirt in my mouth," Chikorita said, spitting out the dirt from her mouth.

"Hey Grovyle, will we ever get back?" Chikorita asked.

"Who knows, if you get caught by the Sableye, getting back will be the least of your worries," Grovyle said grimly.

"C'mon let's get out of here," Ali said as he ran towards the door.

"Hey Grovyle is this the future?" Chikorita asked looking around.

"Yes, you sure catch on quick," Grovyle said indifferently.

"So what happening?" Ali asked looking around.

"We have to keep running," Grovyle said as they kept sprinting towards a nearby cave, "We'll rest here for a few minutes," Grovyle said grimly.

"Ok, what's going on?" Ali asked.

"We're in the future," Grovyle said.

"Yeah, I know that part, so that was pretty obvious," Ali said impatiently.

"We'd better get going," Grovyle said going towards the cave.

"Grovyle wait," Chikorita said and he reluctantly complied. "Shouldn't we wait until morning to keep moving?" Chikorita asked.

"That would be a good idea, thing is that the sun never rises and morning never comes, everything remains in place," Grovyle said looking grim.

"Does that mean…the planet is paralyzed?" Ali asked incredulously and Grovyle nodded.

"I don't get it, we did everything right didn't we?" Chikorita asked a confused Ali who just shrugged.

"C'mon, let's go," he said heading for the cave.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Chikorita said, "We had never agreed to go with you after we got out, the only reason we helped was because we had no choice, I can't trust you," Chikorita said.

"Humph, so I am the bad Pokemon and that Dusknoir is the good Pokemon?" Grovyle demanded.

"Maybe," Chikorita said impatiently.

"I think Grovyle has a fair point," Ali said to Chikorita but she ignored him.

"Jeez…you are so hard to please. I thought that having allies would help get us all back to the past more easily but this is ridiculous," Grovyle said turning towards the cave not wanting to look at the duo as he remembers something from a long time ago. "There's no point working together if there is no trust between the allies," Grovyle said grimly. "You are also free to accept or reject everything I told you. Remember, don't let the Sableye catch you," Grovyle said.

"Shouldn't you rest, after all that you have been through?" Ali asked.

"Well, there's no time for that so I'm going to go and try to get back to the past," Grovyle said coldly as he headed for the cave.

Ali stared at Chikorita and she blushed and sighed. Ali broke the awkward silence by saying that they'd better get going.

They went through Chasm Cave and they fought the resident ghost types and won the battles with ease. They reach the other side, where a fountain is embedded in the rock wall. After Ali and Chikorita take a big, long drink, they finally notice what was weird about the water. It's not moving!

"So time has really stopped…Was Grovyle really telling us the truth? Why'd Dusknoir bring us here in the first place? If only we can discover the truth behind all of this…Hey Ali touch the water, who knows you might get a Dimensional Scream," Chikorita suggested.

"Okay, I'll give a shot," Ali said as he touched the fountain and waited for ten seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds.

"Well Ali? See anything?" Chikorita asked.

"No, I didn't see anything," Ali said looking disappointed.

"Well no point staying here," Chikorita said in an obvious attempt to lighten the mood and she suggested that they get moving before the creeps caught to them.

They kept moving through Dark Hill and emerge at the top, which is a hill overlooking the vast expansion of darkness they had just crossed. They saw a cluster of lights in the distance. Team Drive was really exhausted so they plopped down onto the ground and took a break to catch their breath and get their bearings so they know what they are doing.

"You know, Ali…Sir Dusknoir saved us several times and taught us many things too…including your Dimensional Scream. I thought he was a good guy. But was all that…a trick? I can't believe it…I don't know what to believe anymore…" she said, her voice trailing off.

"I do. Dusknoir was nice until he pulled us into this place. It doesn't look like we can trust him anymore…so why are you still calling him "Sir"?" he asked her frowning.

"I just told you," Chikorita said irritably and Ali sighed. "How far do we have to run? How can we get back home? And what about everyone at the guild…don't they miss us? I…I…I want to go home!" Chikorita yelled and clung to Ali as she began to sob into his arms. Ali starts thinking of a way to get them out of the future and back to their world. He then comes up with an idea and he decides to tell Chikorita about it.

"Chikorita, I have an idea so crazy, it just might work. If we ask go Grovyle he can show us how he got back to the past the first time and we can go home," Ali said eagerly.

"WHAAAT!? Ali, are you joking? He's the bad Pokemon! He came to steal the Time Gears and paralyze our world," Chikorita said angrily.

"But think about it, we stopped Grovyle and brought him back to the future, and with all of that work, the planet is still paralyzed. I'm starting to think that Grovyle is right and that whatever he did the first time is something that we should have allowed him to get the Time Gears, I think that what Dusknoir said was a lie and what Grovyle said was the truth," Ali explained to Chikorita.

"I still don't trust Grovyle, but when you put it that way, I guess we don't have much of a choice," Chikorita said and they start moving but Chikorita stops.

"Ali, thanks for everything, I thought I was all alone and I almost gave up when in fact, you were right there beside me all the way. I'll never give up again," she said with a determined face. _Is this what true love…is really all about?_ She thought to herself.

"Hey no worries, let's keep moving," Ali said, flashing her a smile and they quickly ran to Sealed Ruin.

Meanwhile, Grovyle was at the end at was wondering how Team Drive was doing until he shook them out of his thoughts and thought back to the mission at hand.

He was suddenly attacked by a stone and was cursed.

Team Drive made it through Sealed Ruin and they saw Grovyle lying on the ground with a purple aura surrounding him and he quickly warned them to stay away from the stone but too late so they had to fight the Pokemon called Spiritomb.

Spiritomb called on solid spirits to help it defeat Team Drive. Ali being the clever Pokemon that he was grabbed one of the spirits and twirled it around all over the place like a lasso and that took down the rest of the spirits and that stunned Spiritomb and Ali quickly did a large ground combo on Spiritomb with a Flamethrower finisher. Spiritomb called on more spirits but in different forms and used them as projectiles. Chikorita would dodge these and slide over to Spiritomb and knock him into the air with her leaf and she combo him once he came down.

Ali grabbed another of the spirits and swung it around and that did massive damage to Spiritomb and Ali did an Air Combo with and Iron Tail finisher.

"How'd you like that?" Ali asked and Spiritomb merely shrieked and hopped away.

"Wow, what a weirdo, he went up my nose and-," Grovyle began but was cut off.

"Ewww, too much information there," Chikorita said, looking slightly disgusted at the topic of conversation.

"So he was a bad Pokemon," Ali said.

"No, the darkness as just twisted his heart, just like it has done to others before it and they went bad because of the everlasting darkness," Grovyle explained. "The same thing would have happened to me if I hadn't met my best friend," Grovyle said.

"That's really sad," Chikorita said.

"Hey, so do you two trust me?" he asked.

"I do," Ali said.

"I do too, but I have a few questions," Chikorita said with a confused look.

"Well we can't talk about it here, let's go somewhere else and then talk about it," Grovyle said and they started looking for a suitable hiding spot.

"This should do, we'll be well hidden from the Sableye," Ali said as they took a little break.

"Well, I wanna know why you stole the Time Gears when no one else would?" Chikorita asked.

"What if everything I say is pack of lies?" Grovyle asked.

"I won't take it for face value, I'll listen and then I'll decide," Chikorita said.

"So why is the planet paralyzed in the first place anyway?" Ali asked.

"Well, it all dates back to your time," Grovyle said, "When Temporal Tower began to collapse, which is what Dialga governs. He's the legendary Pokémon that controls time. But when the tower collapsed, time slowed down too much, and the planet became paralyzed.

"What happened to Dialga?" Chikorita asked.

"He's lost all control and because of all the darkness, he has now become Primal Dialga," Grovyle said grimly.

"Primal Dialga?" Ali asked.

"Right, you see Primal Dialga has given in to the darkness and is governed by that darkness," Grovyle explained. "He has no emotions except for those of self preservation, so he does everything he can to prevent the future from changing. That means…he wants to get rid of me because I traveled back in time to prevent the paralysis from ever happening, because I tried to change history," Grovyle finished.

"WHAT!" Chikorita and Ali yelled.

"But that's not what they told us," Chikorita said, "They told us that you were stealing the Time Gears so that you could paralyze the world in the first place," Chikorita said with a frown.

"Yeah and I thought the future would look more I don't know…cheerful, not this," Ali said looking around

"You've got to be kidding me! I was **collecting** Time Gears because they needed to be placed in Temporal Tower in order to reverse its collapse! Okay, so it's true that time does stop in the area where a Time Gear is removed…but that's only temporary. Once they're placed in Temporal Tower, time would've been restored to normal everywhere. I know, it's a really stupid system. Don't ask me how I know," Grovyle finished.

"So everything Grovyle said about you was a lie?" Chikorita asked.

"What else could it be?" Grovyle said, "Truthfully, Dusknoir is actually a spy sent by Primal Dialga to get rid of me," he said with a grim look on his face.

"Dusknoir…a bad guy, there's no way," Chikorita said and she tries to run back through the way they came but Ali quickly stops her.

"I've gotta see him," Chikorita said "I want to know if everything you said is true," she said.

"WHAT!" both males yell in unison.

"You fool, that's suicide, your gonna make it easier for them to eliminate you," Grovyle shouted.

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Chikorita asked angrily.

"What are you supposed to do? Didn't you think about this earlier? It's times like these where you have to be strong! Think for yourself…and act according to what you believe in! That's what you're supposed to do," Grovyle said turning to leave.

"Hey Grovyle, what will you do now?" Ali asked.

"I'm gonna head back to the past so that I can collect the Time Gears again…and to do that I need to find Celebi, you can come along if you want, you will have to decide that for yourselves, later," he said and he left.

"Well, I think Grovyle is right, everything he said made quite a bit of sense," Ali said looking at Chikorita.

"Yeah, you're right Ali, You're right. As long as he doesn't do any bad things, let's follow him...and go back home!" Chikorita said with a determined face and they both sprinted to where Grovyle was heading and they eventually catch up to him and they reach a dark-looking forest.

_Why do I have that feeling that I have been here before? _Ali wondered to himself.

"This is Dusk forest, it's pretty obvious how it got its name," Grovyle said pointing to the trees and the darkness all around the area. "Celebi should be around here unless our pursuers are nearby but if they aren't she should still be here," he said.

"Yeah, who is Celebi, anyway?" Chikorita asked.

"Celebi is the legendary Time Travel Pokémon. She can cross time. Okay, so maybe she's a little…**weird**…but anyway, she allowed me to go into the past in the first place," Grovyle said.

"So if we find her, we can go home," Ali said happily.

"Yeah, but…since she's also helping reshape history…Let's go," Grovyle said.

A little behind them a Sableye was spying on them listening in and started cackling evilly which Ali heard.

_I wonder who that was? _Ali thought with a frown.

"Something wrong?" Chikorita asked.

"Nah, let's keep moving," Ali said as they ran to catch up with Grovyle.

They proceed a little further and then Grovyle starts yelling: "HELLOOOOO! CELEBI! YOU HERE!? IT'S ME, GROVYLE!!" he said.

"What if…they captured her?" Chikorita asked.

"Captured?" a voice said.

"Where's that voice coming from?" Ali asked looking around for the source.

"Me? Captured? That's impossible," she said as she materialized in thin air in front of Grovyle. Ali and Chikorita are shocked.

"This little thing is Celebi?" Chikorita asked in disbelief

"I don't think that you should say things like that to a **Legendary Pokemon**," Ali said looking at Chikorita with a grim expression.

"Hey I'm not tiny or a thing," Celebi said looking a little ticked off.

"I'm sorry, It's just that…Grovyle said you could cross time…so I thought…you'd be some gigantic super-strong…awesome Pokémon…" she said her voice trailing off.

"Sister, what part of never judge someone by what they look like" do you not understand!?" she asked.

"Yeah well we tried that with Dusknoir and looked what happened," Ali said.

"But…that's fine. After all, I must be cuter and more awesome than you thought!" she said happily.

Team Drive sweatdropped at this statement but shrugged it off thinking it wasn't important. Celebi then winked at Ali who was weirded out and took off after Grovyle while Chikorita stared at Celebi in jealousy. Before any more weirdness can ensue, Grovyle explains their situation and Celebi said that it was pretty obvious that he had failed.

"My dear Grovyle, Don't worry. I'll help you. Besides, if you **do **succeed, we'll finally be spared of this agonizing world. My dear Grovyle, I will devote my whole life to it no matter what!" Celebi said with a determined face and Chikorita sighed in relief because she knew that Celebi was more interested in Grovyle than in Ali.

"Good, now where is the Passage of Time?" he asked her.

"It's right up there, are all three of you going?" she asked looking at the group.

"You bet," Ali said.

Upon hearing that Celebi flies in closer to get a closer look at Ali's eyes.

"What, what is it?" Ali asked nervously as she flew in closer and again Chikorita stared in jealousy. "Hey! Not that close Hey!" he yelled trying to create some distance between him and the Pokemon who was staring at him.

"No, No it can't be…those eyes…those eyes are the very same eyes…" she muttered to herself.

Finally she moves back, Ali sighed in relief and Grovyle looked from Ali to Celebi and back again.

"Celebi, what is it?" Grovyle asked.

_He doesn't know?_ Celebi thought incredulously. "Never mind, its nothing important," she replied.

"Alright then, let's go," Ali said as the quartet headed for Dusk Forest and they defeated the enemies inside. They found out that Grovyle had a special combination that he and Ali could pull off together so they tried it. Ali would attack the enemy from the other end and Grovyle would attack it from the other. They would move back and Ali would use Flamethrower and Grovyle would use bullet seed. The next stage, Ali would use Iron Tail to knock them in the air and combo them and Grovyle would do the same with Leaf Blade. The finisher was that they would fire a Fire Spin and Energy Ball and that would attract the enemies and do massive damage on them.

After the combination was over, Ali drank a Max elixir saying that those take up a lot of energy on his part.

They moved forward and eventually made to Deep Dusk Forest and eventually stop to take a break.

"So what is the Passage of Time?" Ali asked.

"It's portal I use for time travel," Celebi explained, "For short trips I can go all by myself, but for long ones such as the one we're about to go through right now, I have to use the Passage of Time," she explains.

They all settle down and Chikorita and Grovyle start getting the things they need from the Kangaskhan Rock nearby and so Celebi flies up to Ali and strikes up a conversation with him.

"Hey, Did you know that Grovyle is really hasty and impatient?" she asked him.

"Really?" Ali asked surprised, "Because he seems pretty awesome to me," he added as an afterthought.

"Well anyway, I wish he would slow down just a little bit…I'd like to spend as much time as I can with him…" she said turning away from him blushing and turning to face him again to find him with a grin on his face.

"Not that I have any feelings for him or anything like that," Celebi said hastily.

"Really?" Ali said, his grin still on his face, "It seems to me that you have feelings for Grovyle, and they are growing stronger aren't they?" he asked looking triumphant.

"Please, don't tell him," she begged and Ali laughed.

"Hey, don't worry, your secret's safe with me," he said giving her a wink and that assured her.

"Do you how I can tell him how I feel?" she asked hopefully looking at Ali.

"Sorry I can't help you there because I just met him," Ali said, "But all I can say is that just be yourself and hope that it goes well with him," Ali added.

She gave him a high five to show her gratitude and he smiled in return.

"I HEARD THAT!" Grovyle said with mock drama.

"I did too," Chikorita said with a small blush on her face because she was talking to Grovyle about the same thing about what Celebi was talking to Ali about earlier.

"WHAT!" Celebi yelled and Chikorita and Grovyle burst out laughing and Ali just sweatdropped. She started beating Chikorita and Grovyle who barely noticed the blows because they were laughing so hard.

Eventually they cross through Deep Dusk Forest and towards the high plateau where the Passage is located. The Passage is glowing and they approach it.

"That's it, Celebi, only you can open it," Grovyle said.

"My pleasure…if you apologize for laughing at me," she as she landed on Ali's head.

Chikorita growled in anger that she was sitting on Ali's head.

"Ugh fine…we're sorry Celebi," Chikorita and Grovyle said in unison and Celebi nodded her approval, noticed that she was on Ali's head and quickly flew off. They made to go through the Passage of Time now that Celebi had opened it up.

"Hold it, that's far enough," a voice behind them said.

They spun around to see Dusknoir standing there with his Sableye minions.

"How'd you get here so fast?" Ali demanded.

"Humph that for me to know and for you to never find out," Dusknoir said coldly as his minions surrounded them

"Humph. You let us run free, but right before we reach the Passage of Time, you **"happen"** to ambush Celebi, and us huh? …That is so very, very, **you**…" Grovyle said through gritted teeth.

"We've gotta fight," Ali said grabbing a Sableye and swinging him around over his head and threw him into other Sableye and that knocked them out in one shot. Ali and Grovyle repeated this process until all of Sableye were knocked out.

"I'm sorry Celebi," Grovyle said.

"Apologies don't suit you my dear Grovyle," Celebi said. "And remember I can't be caught," she added.

"Your attempts at escape are futile," Dusknoir sneered.

"Well we won't know until we try!" Grovyle yelled. "Dusknoir, you and me right now!" he yelled and Dusknoir laughed.

"You fool, do you honestly think that I would try to ambush you with only my minions?" he asked.

"What?" Ali said surprised.

"Master Dialga NOW!" he yelled and the lights went out.

"Thank god I have a flame on my tail to use as a light," Ali said and everyone gathered around him and faced the darkness, backs to each other.

"GRRRR-OOOOOOOOOH!" Dialga screeched, standing on the cliff on top of the Passage of Time.

"That's Primal Dialga!" said Grovyle as the light flashed back on.

"What?" Ali and Chikorita said in surprise.

"Where'd your bravado skedaddle off to now, Grovyle?" Dusknoir said evilly.

"Aren't we gonna fight!?" Ali asked.

"No…Dusknoir by himself is one thing…but Primal Dialga is practically…**immortal!** You two have done so well…I'm sorry…" Grovyle said stepping forward.

"I'm surprised Grovyle that you gave up like that," Dusknoir said.

"I know. But there's still hope. Celebi, you remember…that last time, when I traveled to the past…I wasn't alone. I came with my best friend," Grovyle said.

"You never said that," Chikorita yelled.

"Yeah, we traveled together, even if I am eliminated, he will still be able to carry on for me," Grovyle said and Dusknoir starts laughing.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"What was his name?" Dusknoir asked.

"Why do you care?" Grovyle said coldly.

"Can't tell me?" Dusknoir taunted.

"No, his name was…Ali," he said.

"What?" Chikorita yelled. "Did you say Ali?" she demanded and he nodded. "Well this Ali right here," she said pointing towards the Charmander.

"You're Ali?" Grovyle said to the Charmander. "No the Ali I know wasn't a Pokemon, he was a human," he said and Dusknoir laughed yet again.

"That is truly your partner, he was a human but turned into a Pokemon," Dusknoir explained with an evil grin. "Ask me how I know," he dared and Ali asked.

Dusknoir went into a long explanation about what he did and how he had met them and all that stuff and how he had figured out that Ali was the one that he was looking for in the first place.

"Ali if you didn't have amnesia, you would have recognized me right away you pathetic weakling," Dusknoir said coldly with a cruel smile on his face.

No…you really were lying! So you only saved us because it was **before** you found out who Ali really was, so then why do you want me gone too?" Chikorita demanded, who began to cry and Ali quickly comforted her.

"There's no way I'm telling that," Dusknoir declared.

"We can't give up," Chikorita yelled and then she came up with an idea. "Celebi can you use your time travel powers so we can get closer," she asked.

"I can try, but its going to be pretty difficult since Dialga is here and he controls time itself," Celebi said.

"It doesn't matter, any amount will do, just get us out," she pleaded and Celebi nodded yelling "Time to travel and the quartet went back a few minutes and Dusknoir was shocked but asked Primal Dialga to make them reveal themselves, and he did so.

"Darn it we were so close," Ali said angrily.

"There's still time, go!" Celebi yelled.

"I'm not gonna leave you behind this time Celebi," Grovyle said as he took her paw and held it with his own and they jumped and Ali and Celebi sealed it shut and that left Dusknoir and his minions swearing under their breath.

They flew through the time stream and landed back at the beach. Ali and Chikorita were together and Grovyle and Celebi were together and everyone was unconscious.

Oh my gosh. That was the longest chapter I've ever written in my entire life. Starts getting a headache* ouch that hurt like heck. Well anyway, read and review and vote on my new poll I set up.

Until next Chapter, Sora532 out.


	21. Return to the Past

Hey guys I'm back, this story is pretty close to coming to a close, and that makes me sad. Well since this once is pretty close to coming to a close, I am gonna get on updating my Team Valor story. Well I hope you guys out there keep reviewing this story even after its finished.

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon, I DO own the changes in plot and character personalities.**

Chapter 20:

Ali quickly regained consciousness and looked around. "We made it back to the past," he muttered.

Ali just looked around, taking in the light, color and sheer beauty of the beach, staying in the future that was full of darkness for a long time tends to do that to a Pokemon (or in Ali's case a human turned Pokemon). He then decided to wake Chikorita up.

"Hey Chikorita," he said nudging her in the side and she stirred slightly so he came up with a more clever idea: tickling her. So he did just that and Chikorita woke and started to giggle madly because Ali was tickling her.

"Okay, okay, I'm up," she yelled through a fit of giggles and he stopped so she could catch her breathe.

Ali's antics also woke up Celebi and Grovyle who noticed that they happened to be very close together and they both blushed; Celebi more than Grovyle, naturally.

"Oh boy, we made it back to the past," Ali said happily.

"WE'RE BACK! WE'RE BACK!" Ali and Chikorita cheered as they danced ring-around the rosie style and they both laughed there heads off.

"Wh-Where are we?" Grovyle asked looking slightly confused and looked around.

"We're at the beach," Ali said looking around so he could familiarize himself with the new light and color.

"This is where I met Ali for the first time! Right…here," she said running to a spot and tapping it with her paw.

"So that's what happened to you, Ali," Grovyle said looking around. "I was sent to Eastern Forest the first time around. So we were all far away from each other…" Grovyle said with his voice trailing off.

"Hey Grovyle! There's still a lot I still don't understand and I want you to explain – but here is not a good place to talk about it. Let's go to the Wigglytuff's Guild," she suggested.

"Hang on," Celebi said. "Isn't Grovyle considered the worst criminal ever in the past?" Celebi asked with a frown on her face.

"Yeah, you're right, I forgot," Ali said with a little chuckle.

"What should we do then?" Celebi asked with her arms crossed.

"Oh I know! But we'll have to go through Treasure Town," Chikorita said with a sigh.

"Well, it shouldn't be a problem if we keep a low profile and make sure we don't attract any attention," Grovyle said, thinking. "Lead the way," he added to Chikorita who nodded and started to sprint as fast as she could to her spot and Ali, Grovyle, and Celebi did their best to keep up with her without attracting attention on to themselves.

_I wonder what Chikorita was talking about when she said that she knew a good place_ Ali wondered to himself as he sprinted to keep up with Chikorita.

They sprint through Treasure Town with Grovyle hiding close to the ground with Ali and Chikorita hiding him from every angle and Ali took off his crown and armor and stuffed away so that no one would recognize him. Celebi had vanished completely from view so they had no idea where she went.

They had stopped at Sharpedo bluff and looked around again.

"We made it," Chikorita said quietly but cheerfully because no one recognized them because they had all taken off their armor and accessories.

"Good thing that you suggested that we take off all our armor and accessories," Chikorita said while smiling at Ali who nodded in return.

"Well, here we are," Chikorita announced and Celebi popped out of thin air.

"Whoa, where did you come from?" Grovyle asked.

"I just hid in another time period in the past until I heard Chikorita's call and came back," Celebi explained.

"Well anyway," Chikorita said, ending Grovyle and Celebi's conversation. She moved a bush out of the way and it revealed a set of stairs. "It's down here, I lived here before I met Ali and joined the guild," she explained to a curious Ali.

"Wow Chikorita," Ali commented. "This looks kind of dangerous, how'd you pull of living in here if it –" he began but he think of anything so he stopped it there.

"Hee-hee," Chikorita giggled. "It's actually not that bad, I thought it looked pretty awesome so I started living here, go on in," she said urging them all inside.

They all go inside to get some protection and Ali grabs the bush and seals the exit shut.

"What did you do that for?" Chikorita asked.

"I don't want anyone to spy on us," Ali said and she nodded.

"Whoa, this is where you used to live?" Ali asked.

"Uh-huh, it isn't very much but I hope you all like it," Chikorita said to everyone who nodded.

"Are you kidding, this is the one of the most awesome things I've ever seen," Ali said happily and Chikorita blushed at his praise.

Ali and Grovyle set up the beds while Celebi and Chikorita headed to another time period to gather some firewood so they can make a campfire. When night came, they built a campfire thanks to Ali's tail being on fire constantly but it burned hot enough so it can keep everyone warm but not hot enough to accidentally burn any of the grass types. They all sat in their respective beds and were ready to discuss things over some berries.

"But Ali…I never expected you to be the very same Ali…I mean, I'm actually taller than you for once…" Grovyle said.

"Yeah well, how many people or Pokemon do you know that share my name?" Ali asked.

"I don't think I know anyone else that shares your name," Grovyle admitted and Ali laughed.

"I'm sorry about the whole "I thought you were an evil Pokemon" thing," Ali said with a smile.

"Grovyle would you mind telling us a little bit more about your friendship with Ali?" she requested.

"Yeah, I want to know more about this myself," Celebi piped and Grovyle replied.

"Ali and I were best of friends, we'd never be apart from one another," Grovyle said remembering all the memories from his past about Ali. "We were investigating the planet's paralysis, using Ali's Dimensional Scream ability," he went on. "But it will only activate under two conditions: one, it only works on places tied to Time Gears, and two: t also only works in the presence of a trusted friend. That's why we worked together. With it, we were able to find out where the Time Gears were before we got to the past and the more we knew about what we would be facing the better," Grovyle finished.

"Then why was it set off after Ali and I met," Chikorita asked.

"Well, since Ali had amnesia, and you happened to be the first Pokemon to meet him after the incident, I'd say that you both earned each other mutual trust pretty quickly, Right, Ali?" Celebi suggested looking at Ali.

"Well when you put it that way…it's a little embarrassing," Ali said nervously.

"Aww, don't be embarrassed," Chikorita said winking at him but again he felt nervous but there was no way out this time.

"But the Dimensional Scream went off in places that had absolutely nothing to do with the Time Gears, too! Like that time with Hypno…and the waterfall…and…a bunch of other places," Ali said with a frown.

"I guess, that the ability works differently in the past, than in the future," Grovyle said with a frown and he started getting ready for sleep.

"Maybe that was why it didn't work in the future with that frozen water," Ali muttered to himself.

Grovyle: So after we found where they were, we took the Passage of Time. But on the way, we encountered some sort of turbulence, and we were separated. Maybe it was because of that that he turned into a Charmander **AND** lost his memory.

"That reminds me…Dusknoir did a really terrible job explaining this, so…can you tell me what I was like back then? Like, exactly where I came from, when you met me, why weren't there any other humans in the future…and anything else?" Ali requested looking at Grovyle who agreed.

"It might take some time though," Grovyle said.

"Alright, I just want to hear my life story," Ali said as Celebi fell asleep, as she had already known Ali's life story.

"There was a day nine years from where we were in the future, we saw a shooting star and at the time I was still a Treecko and I was a very lonely one at that, so I saw the star and wished with all my heart that I had a friend unlike any other, one who would help me out and someone to believe in me," he said. "Surprisingly a few seconds later I heard cheering and I found a young boy sitting on the ground looking at me curiously and I also saw your parents nearby but they were unconscious. I took you back to my house and took care of you and we'd play together all the time and you would help me become a braver Pokemon than I was before," Grovyle went on before Chikorita cut him off.

"I thought only baby Pokemon light Cleffa and Igglybuff needed parents?" Chikorita asked looking confused.

"Yeah well, apparently Ali needed them too. When Primal Dialga figured out that Ali's parents were trying to give him and themselves the Dimensional Scream and he sent them all to be executed. Dusknoir who was a Dusclops at the time took all three of them to the stockade and executed your parents first," Grovyle said, his voice cracking and Ali saw that he was getting tears in his eyes.

"It was lucky that they had saved you for last, or else I wouldn't have made it in time, so because of the desperation of the situation, I somehow evolved and sliced the ropes binding you to the stockade and carried your parents' dead bodies and we both had a funeral," Grovyle said sadly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, I was the survivor of my family, because of Primal Dialga's commands?" Ali asked angrily and Grovyle nodded.

"I think they made you watch, because you were really scared. But then your Dimensional Scream ability worked for the first time, and by then, we decided to find out the truth. Over the course of the next five years, we traveled around the world, solving puzzles, finding out where the Time Gears were, and running away from Dusknoir. We even got lots of help from Celebi. And because you hated how everyone was betraying each other, you said "There's no point in working together without trust." So that became our motto, and now you know. I still think it's weird that we went into the past right on your 15th birthday," Grovyle said with a frown.

"This explains those feelings that I had before…" Ali said, recounting all of the feelings he had when he went to places that had to do with Time gears, when he got to see a Time Gear, the strange foreboding he got off of Dusknoir's laugh.

"Oh, I get it! It's muscle memory! Even when your conscious memories were erased…your body still remembers everything!" Celebi exclaimed.

"So all of those feelings Ali had were musical memory?" Chikorita asked and Grovyle and Celebi nodded in unison.

"All of this new information is so new to me, I think my head might blow," Ali said, rubbing his head.

"Speak for yourselves, this is all ancient history to me," Grovyle said with a smirk. "So Ali, you have NO idea how worried I was about you when we were separated. You're appearance may have changed…and you may have lost your memory…but despite that, you're still you. Oh, Ali. I'm so glad you're still my best friend…and that I could see you again," Grovyle said hugging his best friend, which he hugged back with vigor.

"I really wish I could remember my past," Ali muttered and Grovyle laughed.

"But enough about us, what about you two," Celebi asked looking at fire and grass type sitting next to each other.

Chikorita recounted everything that happened to them, from her meeting Ali on the beach up to the point of when they met Grovyle in a good light.

"Team Drive? I think that's a pretty good name," Celebi said with a smile.

"Really? Thanks," Chikorita said happily.

"Good night everyone," Chikorita said, who had started to yawn and Ali put out the fire while everyone else set up their beds for the night.

They all fall asleep on the spot and they are so tired that they all slept through the sunrise, the next day and the next night! But by morning of the following day, Grovyle wakes up (about time) and finds that Chikorita was not there. He starts to look for her and finds her out at the cliff's out at the ocean.

"Something wrong?" Grovyle asked, "Can't sleep?"

"I'm fine. It's just that…I think we slept for two nights straight!" Chikorita exclaimed.

"Wow, I knew we'd be tired but I didn't think we'd be THAT tired," Grovyle said looking visibly shocked. "Anyway, what are you doing here?" he asked.

"Just thinking about everything. Basically, what you told us about you and Ali…stuff like that. Oh! It's morning already!" she exclaimed looking out at the sunrise as it got brighter and brighter.

"Wooooww…After being in that future for so long…Wow! This is…Wow! The sun rises…then it sets…we all take that for granted, and that's only natural. But it's things like those…that are the most precious," Chikorita said wisely and Grovyle nodded in agreement.

"All I'd ever known was the future's world of darkness…So when I came here and saw the sunrise for the first time…Yeah. It was staggering. And it was right then that I knew…I just **knew**…that we had to turn history away from darkness no matter what," Grovyle said to a stunned Chikorita.

"One more thing, Vulpix. You know that time they ambushed us? Frankly, we had absolutely zero chance of winning, or even getting out of there alive. But despite all that…you didn't give up. Even I gave up. How'd you manage to do that?" Grovyle asked curiously.

"I guess I never gave up because, I had Ali with me, he was one to give me so much _Drive_ and determination," Chikorita said thoughtfully.

"Ali, really?" Grovyle asked curiously.

"Yeah. I told you about how I made an exploration team with him. But I didn't tell you that before we met, I was too scared to even apply! With him, though, I felt like I could face anything…Just like that time, and that time, and all those other times…he had taught me so much, he even came up with a special combo where he and I work together to bring enemies down," Chikorita explained. "Kind of like what Ali and you did yesterday with your special combo," she added.

"Well that would make sense, seeing as he does have a tendency to make others around him feel good about themselves, The same reason why he was my best friend…You feel that same way about him too, don't you? Maybe even greater feelings," Grovyle said slyly and Chikorita blushed.

Yeah! All my life, I was looking for my prince…and all this time, he was right in front of me…" Chikorita said blushing all the while.

Grovyle images everything that Chikorita and Ali had told him, but most importantly, he pictures all the fun times that they had together; going on explorations, coming up with new combos, creating new poses, playing together with whatever they could and always end up laughing.

"Ali is…lucky…to be blessed with a friend like you," Grovyle said looking at Chikorita.

"Thanks for being his best friend all those years ago," Chikorita said with a smile.

The duo of grass types just stared at the sunrise, then come down so they could get ready. They found Ali and Celebi already awake and ready to go.

"Hey you two, did you sleep well?" Ali asked the duo and they both nodded enthusiastically. "Alright, when you're ready, we can work on our next plan of attack," Ali suggested as Chikorita and Grovyle freshened up for a day of exploring.

(Sora's theme starts to play)

"Okay, so do we all agree that we're going to collect the Time Gears again?" Grovyle asked and the other three nodded. "All right then, let's start with the one at Treeshroud Forest, is that okay with all of you?" he asked.

"Yes, and besides, there won't be anyone like Uxie guarding this one, right?" Celebi asked and the trio nodded.

(Sora's theme stops playing)

"Let's go," Ali said and they headed for the place in question while keeping a low profile and they get out the items that they need before heading out.

"Hey, I think I've been here before," Ali said, looking surprised.

"Yes we have. We came here in the future and your Dimensional Scream found it here," Grovyle explained.

"But I thought Ali lost all his memories," Chikorita said, looking confused.

"He still had musical memory, remember?" Celebi said looking at the trio.

"So that's why I felt like we've already been to Fogbound Lake and the desert and Crystal Cave! And those were our voices! We solved those puzzles then, didn't we, Grovyle?" Ali asked and Grovyle nodded.

"C'mon, I don't want to waste anymore time," Ali said as they all sprinted into the forest and quickly found out that Ali and Celebi can also do a combination together so they gave it a go and it made Ali and Celebi faster and froze all the enemies which allowed Celebi to come at them with Aerial Ace and Ali would come at the enemies with an Iron Tail and for the finisher, they would push off each other and slice enemies in a huge combo. It didn't literally slice them into tiny pieces, but it did do quite a lot of damage.

They made it to the deepest end to find that Time was still frozen.

"What!" the quartet exclaimed when they saw that Time had stopped moving forward.

"Well there's no point in not taking the Time Gear since it won't make a difference anymore," Grovyle said as he took the Time Gear.

Calm down. It's not like it'll make any difference. What I'm more worried about is why time was still frozen here. Chikorita, when we get back, I'd like you find out what's going on. But keep a low profile, okay?" he requested and she nodded.

They were all waiting for Chikorita to come and tell them what was going on, she came back and recounted what she had heard. I'm back. Here's the word. After we fell into the future, Uxie and friends put the Time Gears back to their places. Everyone was happy because they thought time would go back to normal. But…time was still stopped in those places. Even worse, it's spreading. Everyone's upset because they can't figure out what's wrong," Chikorita said sadly.

"Oh no, this can only mean that Temporal Tower has begun to collapse, this bad, this is really bad," Grovyle said grimly.

"Well what should we do?" Ali asked.

We have to hurry. Otherwise, the planet will be fully paralyzed. I told you we needed to place the Time Gears in Temporal Tower. Problem is, it's in a place called the Hidden Land. From the future, we were just there, but from this time...Anyway, we should split up. We'll find the Time Gears, while you two find the Hidden Land," Grovyle said.

"Gotcha, is it okay with you Ali?" Chikorita asked.

"Yeah, I'm game," said Ali.

"Anyway, since no one's discovered it yet, we have to assume it's far away. Maybe it's across the sea—who knows? I don't," Grovyle said grimly as he and Celebi left.

"Well, let's start by looking for a way to cross the ocean," Chikorita said and they dashed to the beach.

"So how are we going to cross the sea?" Ali asked.

" Ugh, this way too complicated to figure out on our own and we'll run out of time, that's it we need everyone's help!" Chikorita exclaimed.

"Huh, what are you talking about?" Ali asked.

"Alliiiiii, don't tell me you forgot about guild members," Chikorita said looking surprised.

Ali chuckled while rubbing the back of his head sheepishly.

"Do you think that they'll believe us?" Chikorita asked.

"If they don't I've got something to prove it, but before we do that, let's get our armor and accessories back on because I felt weird while I wasn't wearing them," Ali said as he put on his crown and his ribbons and Chikorita doing the same with her armor and her accessories.

"Ready?" Ali asked and she nodded and then they ran of to the guild.

"Well, here we are. Hope you're happy," Ali said with a smirk.

"This feels weird, whatever, I'll stand on the grate first," she said and soon the ground starts rumbling and the gate opens. A stampede can be heard. Everyone comes out and swarms them. Suddenly, they all stop and step to the side as Chatot and Wigglytuff come out and meet them. On the lower basement level, everyone's gathered in a circle to hear Ali and Chikorita's story. When they finish, Chatot asks if what they said was really true and they say so.

"That's the funniest thing that I've ever heard," Chatot said laughing.

"You gotta be kidding," Ali said angrily.

"The great Dusknoir, a bad guy, and thieving Grovyle, a good guy? Absolutely inconceivable! Is there any part of your story that's remotely plausible, a place called the Hidden Land, I've heard of no such thing and I am the head of intelligence for this guild," he said angrily.

"Just because you don't know about it doesn't mean that it is not there," Ali said coldly.

"We've been thrown in jail, tortured, almost shredded to pieces by **flesh-eating sadistic Sableye**, chased by Dusknoir, thrown off cliffs, learned about the future, totally ambushed, almost crushed by the whole army and Primal Dialga, and barely made back here!! We could've been stuck in that crappy place forever, or worse, eliminated! But Grovyle helped us all get out AND he told me about my past!!! Without him, no one would ever see us again!! You see!? YOU SEE!?" Ali yelled at the stunned guild members.

Everyone stares at Ali for a few seconds before saying that they agreed that Ali was telling the truth, much to Chikorita's relief.

"Well it looks like everyone agrees," Wigglytuff said happily, "Even Chatot," he added.

"Yup. You **did **believe them all along…right, Chatot?" he asked.

"Hee! Hee! Hee! Hee-heeeeee! Well, okay. There's no fooling anyone today. I believed them in my heart right from the start!" Chatot said and Ali and Chikorita sweatdropped.

"Okaay then," Ali said, who was clearly unconvinced but shrugged it off.

No one really paid any attention to Chatot's babbling like an idiot because they wanted to hear about their adventures in the future. All of a sudden, Ali's stomach starts growling and everyone laughed, Ali joined in too because it was funny.

Everyone! Now we know why time is stopping in more and more places insanely! Let's let everyone know about the truth…Uxie and friends, especially! In the name of Wigglytuff's Guild…Let's all find the Hidden Land for Chikorita and Ali! YOOM…TAH!" he cheered as they ran for cover.

Since Wigglytuff Hyper Voiced in his face, Chatot is as stone still as last time. When Ali and Chikorita talk about what they're going to do next, Wigglytuff pulls them aside.

"Torkoal the town elder might know something," he said thoughtfully.

"Let's go see him in the morning," Ali said as they all ran to the mess hall, paw and paw with Chikorita.

"Finally! Real FOOOOOOOOOOD!!" they cheered. They eat their first real meal in days, though it feels like it was in decades.

After dinner they head back to their old room, feeling glad, they got be back here after such a long time but they were too tired to do anything else and they both fell asleep.

Suddenly, a shadow appears in the room saying "Soon, my love, soon," she said looking at the two in bed.

"Hey, let me go!" Chikorita said angrily.

"Not on my life," the voice said cruelly.

"Help me!" Chikorita squeaked and she was dragged away, quickly losing consciousness.

Ali woke up the next morning to find that Chikorita was gone. He looked around everywhere but couldn't find her.

He had told Chatot and he said that he found a letter and he handed it Ali to read. It was another ransom note.

"Well, whoever this is, I'm not letting them get away with this," Ali said as he headed for Lunar Cave as was where Chikorita was going to be held hostage.

"Wow, I didn't think it would be that easy, if anything I would have expected it to be harder, but anyway, I can't lower my guard now," Ali said as he just ran as fast as he could and he made to the end of the cave and saw that the crystals were glowing red and looked around to see Chikorita unconscious on the ground.

"NO," a voice yelled, and Ali spun around to see Piplup approaching him.

"Piplup, what happened to Chikorita?" Ali demanded but she merely shook her head, a cruel smile forming on her face and that told him everything, but her eyes looked like she was longing for some love.

"I thought you and I were friends!" Ali said coldly. "I guess I was wrong," he said as he made to pick up Chikorita but Piplup fired a Hydro Pump at him. Ali rolled out of the way to avoid any further damage and she did Double Team and a water gun combo to create watery versions of herself. Ali grabbed one and spun it around and that took out the water clones. He managed to beat all fifty water clones in less than 30 seconds. This took Piplup by surprise and he quickly did a ground combo with a Brick Break Finisher.

Piplup quickly fired a Bubblebeam at him and he sprinted away. She also then used Bubblebeam to come down on him from above and he sprinted away from that too. Ali noticed that she had some more Water Clones now and he used them to stun her and do some more damage. He continued this process and occasionally slid up behind her and knocked her into the air where he would quickly do an air combo. She eventually got really tired and fell down unconscious.

Ali turned away from her and picked up Chikorita. Ali, though he felt a little reluctant to do so, also took Piplup and Chikorita quickly gained consciousness while Piplup woke up slowly and saw Ali there with an unhappy look on his face.

"Why, why did you do it?" Ali asked. Piplup felt ashamed to look him in the eyes.

"I was jealous of Chikorita," she confessed, I've had feelings for you and she got to spend so much time with you.

"Well, why don't we help you find someone to love," Ali suggested and she readily agreed.

As though on cue a Cyndaquil came in and looked a little nervous.

"Hi Cyndaquil," Ali said to the fire mouse.

"Hey Ali, she looks really cute," he added to Piplup who had started blushing.

"Hey why don't you two form an exploration team together," Ali suggested. Piplup liked this idea and so did Cyndaquil so Piplup thanked Ali for helping her and she and Cyndaquil left, flipper and paw with each other and Ali looked pleased with himself.

"Aww, that was nice of you," Chikorita said.

"Yeah, we'd better get to the Hot Springs Ali said and they ran to the Hot Springs and Ali dove in with a bottle on his tail again as Chikorita merely sat as the pool's edge staring at Ali romantically.

Once they were done they began talking to Torkoal about the Hidden Land and Torkoal told them that they needed a proof of some kind. Unfortunately, Torkoal has amnesia too so he forgot the details.

"Oh well, thanks for your help," Ali said kindly to the Torkoal who nodded and they left to tell the result of the conversation.

"So Torkoal didn't know much," Chatot said.

"That's not true, knowing that we need proof is quite a bit," Wigglytuff said with everyone agreeing with him.

"Why don't we call it a night, we can continue in the morning," Chimecho said as they all went to the mess hall and then to their respective rooms.

**Yay, I finished it with five minutes to spare, hooray. I hope you like it. Remember Read and Review. You guys make me feel happy especially if they stay that you have a good story.**


	22. Secrets and Crests

**Hey guys, I am back with another of the story. I really like the reviews that you've been sending in. I feel my heart burst with happiness when I read them. Thanks you guys for reviewing and even when this story is quickly coming to a close, I won't be gone from Fanfiction yet. I've got a Team Valor Story and a possible ToD fic in the near future. I'll keep on coming up with random pairings and who knows I might do a Pokemon and Kingdom Hearts Crossover. I don't know yet.**

**Do I have to say this every chapter? I do NOT own Pokemon or any of its characters, I DO own the plot changes and the character personalities.**

Chapter 21

Ali and Chikorita woke up the next morning, and they took a little bit longer to get ready than usual. They were both thinking about what had happened yesterday.

_I guess Piplup is not on our team anymore, that's a plus because now she and I aren't love rivals anymore _Chikorita thought happily.

"I wonder how Cyndaquil and Piplup are doing on their journey as an exploration team," Ali wondered out loud.

"They'll be fine, Ali," Chikorita said approaching him.

"Yeah, you're right," Ali said and they left their room and headed for the briefing.

"So in short, the Hidden Land is shrouded in mystery, but we're not going to give up that easily," Chatot said.

"HOORAY!" everyone cheered.

"Let's investigate today as well," he said and they all left to do their work.

"Well Ali, what should we do?" Chikorita asked. "We've already talk to Torkoal," she added. "We're out of leads," she finished desperately.

"Pokemon Detected Pokemon Detected," Diglett said.

"Who's the footprint? Who's the footprint?" Loudred said.

"The footprint is Torkoal the town elder, the footprint is Torkoal the town elder," Diglett said.

"What's Torkoal doing here?" Chikorita asked.

"We won't find out by standing here," Ali said as they saw him climb down the ladder.

"I finally –pant- caught up with you, climbing these ladders on these old bones is hard work," Torkoal said.

"What brings you here, Torkoal?" Ali asked and then he suddenly realized something, "Is it something more about that proof that you were telling us about before?" he asked.

"Indeed, you see I was ashamed when I couldn't provide you with a sufficient answer so I mulled it over in the Hot Springs and a recollection resurfaced but I doubt that it will help," Torkoal said sadly.

"We want all the information that you can offer Torkoal sir, no matter how small," Wigglytuff said kindly and he nodded.

"Well, I remembered a little more about the proof, it has a strange inscription on it," he said.

"Alright, do you know what it looks like?" Ali asked.

"Well, it's really hard to describe, it's a pattern that you rarely see," he tried to explain the best he could but everyone just stared him looking confused.

"A pattern that you rarely see," they all muttered, trying to think of something but with no success.

_A pattern that you rarely see, a peculiar pattern _Ali thought to himself and then he was struck by an idea; he remembered the time that he and Chikorita first met and she had shown him her Relic Fragment, _Chikorita's Relic Fragment had an inscription on it! _Ali thought, looking surprised.

"Chikorita, your Relic Fragment," Ali said and she looked at him with a blank stare for a second and then realized what he was talking about and she pulled it out.

"Excuse me Torkoal, could you examine this?" she requested, handing it over to him and he looked at it for a second and looked stunned.

"This is exactly it!" he exclaimed, "Where did you find this?" he asked.

"Ummm, I can't say that I do remember, I just came across it one time and I thought it looked pretty cool and I took it with me," she explained.

"Yippee!" Sunflora cheered, "Does this mean that Chikorita is qualified to go to the Hidden Land?"

"That, I wouldn't know," Torkoal said. "Maybe so maybe not. This is merely the physical key to the Hidden Land, but that does not necessarily mean that the bearer wields the qualifications to go there," he said. "There is no sure connection between this Relic Fragment and the Hidden Land," he said slowly.

"Oh! But…! There's no question that this pattern has something to do with the Hidden Land, right?" Wigglytuff asked. "Knowing that is actually a valuable asset in our plans," he said cheerfully.

"I suppose so…" Torkoal said, his voice trailing off. "Wait a second, you do realize that the Hidden Land is only a spoken legend right?" he asked. "Surely you aren't trying to find it, are you?" he asked incredulously.

"We are," Wigglytuff said.

"My goodness, what a surprise!" Torkoal said, taken aback.

"Chatot, this pattern… We've seen this pattern somewhere before, haven't we?" Wigglytuff asked Chatot.

"WHAT?" Everyone said looking deeply surprised.

"Y-yes, the sea inlet to the northwest… Inside Brine Cave… but Guildmaster…that place," Chatot began but Wigglytuff cut him off.

"Yes I know, that vicious bandit was there and it attacked us," Wigglytuff said calmly.

"What!" Everyone yelled again.

"A vicious…" Chimecho said.

"Bandit? By golly!" Bidoof finished.

"Everyone! Please listen, I once saw this same pattern deep inside a place called Brine Cave, I think that we'll learn more by taking the Relic Fragment there," Wigglytuff suggested, "However, there is one problem, A Pokemon lurks in there who is a vicious bandit," he warned.

"Hey hey! We're not about to let that scare us," Corphish said with a determined face.

"Aren't we explorers?" Loudred asked.

"We all need to be brave!" Sunflora cheered.

"Thanks everyone, but that place is challenging, everyone should take time today to get ready for the challenges ahead, then we can set off for Brine Cave tomorrow," Wigglytuff said.

"HOORAY!" they all cheered, even Torkoal because felt youthful for the first time in ages.

"Ho-ho-ho…I thought that the Hidden Land was nothing more than folklore! Getting old has made my thinking so inflexible, that is very sad," he said. "This all makes me remember the days when I would dream of romance and adventure, help me see my dreams again!" he said happily as he climbed the ladders that let him out of the guild in the first place.

"You can count on us!" Chikorita yelled, she had been blushing ever since Torkoal had mentioned romance.

"Thanks Torkoal," Wigglytuff called.

"No trouble at all," he replied with his usual smile and he left.

"Everyone, get all your gear together, and get ready for Brine Cave!" Wigglytuff yelled and they all cheered once more and Chikorita took her Relic Fragment back.

"Chatot I want you stay here on standby tomorrow," Wigglytuff said.

"What!" Chatot said. "Guildmaster, forgive me if I'm out of line but please, let me go to Brine Cave," Chatot pleaded.

"Nope, can't let what happened to you last time ever happen again, I don't want you to ever face that type of danger ever again," Wigglytuff said sadly.

"But that's the reason I want to go, please take me to Brine Cave," Chatot said both angrily and desperately.

"OK, then I want you to go with Team Drive tomorrow then," Wigglytuff said. "Guide Ali's team to where we saw the strange pattern the first time," he added.

"Thank you!" Chatot said happily. "I won't let you down," he added and Wigglytuff nodded his approval.

"Another thing…I have something I need to do, so I have to go out tomorrow, you're in charge while I'm gone," Wigglytuff said.

"As you wish," Chatot said as he, Ali, and Chikorita watched the Guildmaster walk away.

"So that's where it stands, you two will be with me tomorrow," Chatot said, approaching the duo. "Brine Cave has a vicious foe lying in wait, you mustn't ever let your guard down," Chatot said gravely.

"It goes without saying," Ali said calmly.

"And don't do anything stupid or anything that will keep me from succeeding there," he added and Ali and Chikorita sweatdropped.

"Alright then," Ali sighed, looking a little impatiently at the bird Pokemon. "Can we go get ready?" he asked and he nodded.

"C'mon Ali, let's go get ready," she said and she and Ali quickly ran out the guild and went to Treasure Town.

**Meanwhile with Torkoal:**

Torkoal was walking away from the guild, reminiscing about his past.

"Oh, to be young again," Torkoal said with enthusiasm. "If I was a younger, I would certainly join the challenge to find the Hidden Land," he added.

"Whoa-ho-ho! Hold it right there," a voice said and Torkoal looked around, trying to find where it was coming from and saw a Skuntank who was flanked by a Zubat and Koffing.

"Wha-what is it? What do you want from me?" he demanded getting into a stance, (even though he's old that doesn't mean that he doesn't know how to fight).

"Chaw-haw-haw, we're Team Skull," Skuntank said

"Heh-heh, did you have any business with Wigglytuff's Guild, old-timer? Zubat said.

"Whoa-ho-ho, I heard you say something that sounded fun, " Koffing said.

"Something about the Hidden Land, Chaw-haw-haw," Skuntank said.

"I…I was just…" Torkoal began but Zubat cut him off.

"I hear someone coming," Zubat said.

"Must be those guild chumps again," Koffing said.

"Old-timer, why don't we take this chat somewhere where we won't interrupted? Chaw-haw," Skuntank said and they quickly took him somewhere.

"Hey," Torkoal said irritably, but they ignored him.

**Back with Ali and Chikorita: (Vim and Vigor starts to play)**

Ali and Chikorita went to stock up on items, they didn't bother with Armor and accessories because they knew that they had already equipped the best items that they had. They both agreed to take out some more items, having received a new, bigger treasure bag the previous day.

"So we got everything?" Chikorita asked checking the bag as she made sure that they had everything.

"Hey Chikorita," Ali said, realizing something.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"We should go over to Sharpedo Bluff to see if Grovyle and Celebi are there before we head back to the guild," Ali suggested.

"You're right, let's go," she said as they both ran to Sharpedo Bluff and went into the hollow chamber.

They didn't see Grovyle or Celebi anywhere, they looked around and Chikorita noticed a note on the ground and Chikorita pointed this out to Ali who raced over to see what it said, it was all in language that he barely understood, but Chikorita had been teaching him during their stay at the guild.

"This letter in footprint runes," Ali said picking it up and looking at it.

"It must be from Grovyle and Celebi," Chikorita said, taking the paper from Ali and began to read it out loud.

"It says: _To Ali and Chikorita: How are you doing? How goes your search for the Hidden Land? Things are going well on Celebi's and my end. We've already collected four Time Gears. I only have to find one more and then we'll be set for the Hidden Land and Temporal Tower. Celebi and I plan to join you when we've collected all five Time Gears. Plans have proceeded smoothly. Azelf and his friends have understood the situation at hand and have fully cooperated. It's heart-warming to know that more and more Pokemon in the past have grown to trust us. However, I am still staying away from Treasure Town. 1) I'm not completely convinced that everyone in the future trusts all four of us and 2) Dusknoir is liable to return to the past…"_

"What!" Chikorita said.

"Well it makes sense, Dusknoir failed to eliminate us the first time around, he would still want us gone, I wouldn't put it past him to chase us to the past again," Ali said grimly. "Come to think of it, I wouldn't put anything past Dusknoir at this point," he added thoughtfully.

"Okay I'll keep reading," Chikorita said and kept reading:

"_Since Dusknoir will be coming, we should keep a low profile, this is another reason why Celebi and I should stay away from the guild, especially for Celebi's sake, she is a legendary Pokemon after all. We may instead come back to Sharpedo Bluff or the beach. If we meet there, we can then exchange information. Good luck on your end. Together, we can and will stop the planet's paralysis – Grovyle and Celebi,"_ Chikorita finished reading.

"It sounds like Celebi and Grovyle are working hard on their end, we'd better not fail on ours," Chikorita said.

"Well since the letter mentioned the beach, why don't we go there and see if Grovyle happens to be there," Ali suggested. (Vim and Vigor stops playing.)

"Okay, let's go," she said and they quickly ran to the beach to see if the duo was there and much to their dismay, they weren't there.

She looked around and then said, "I wonder where all the Krabby and Kingler are, they usually come out in the evening to blow their bubbles," she explained.

"Look Ali, the sunset!" Chikorita exclaimed and they both took a moment to look at the sight before them. "You know, it has been my dream to find the secret of the Relic Fragment, but I would have never guessed that it would be connected to the Hidden Land," she said. "By the way, it was here, wasn't it?" Chikorita asked. "Where Koffing and Zubat tried to steal it the first time?"

"Yeah it was, I think or may have been a little further ahead," Ali said pointing at the area closer to Beach Cave.

They both remembered the day they first met and those thugs attacked Chikorita and stole her Relic Fragment, how she and Ali quickly defeated the thugs and recovered the treasure.

"I remember…I was too afraid to get it back, or to do anything for that matter," she remembered. "You cave me courage then Ali, you know, that was how we really started as a team, getting the Relic Fragment back was Team Drive's first adventure," she said. "And now, we're using the same Relic Fragment so we can go to the Hidden Land," she said happily. "If you think about it, this Relic Fragment is the start of both," she said.

"Yeah, you're right," Ali said, "My adventures with you and the search of the Hidden Land, the Relic Fragment was the start of both," Ali said and she nodded.

"The sunset is so beautiful, it will be lost if the planet becomes paralyzed and I won't let that happen," Chikorita said approaching Ali. "We will lose this beautiful sight and the world will sink into the darkness, and I won't that ever happen," she said with a determined face.

"You said it," Ali said. _That's right, we have to try hard tomorrow, I must hold true and stop the Planet's Paralysis._ Ali thought to himself.

"Hey what's that?" Chikorita said, pointing to a figure that was swimming across to some unknown destination.

"I guess it must be a Pokemon," Ali said with a shrug. "C'mon Chikorita, we'd better get back to the guild," Ali added and they both left the beach and headed back to the guild.

After Team Drive left, three new Pokemon appeared: Team Skull of course.

"The Krabby weren't around here with a good reason…they ran away, scared of us, Chaw-haw-haw," Skuntank said with a cruel smirk on his face.

"Whoa-ho-ho, but chief, that old-timer Torkoal wasn't lying to us…after all!" Koffing exclaimed.

"Heh-heh! That junk we stole back then…I didn't think that it would be that valuable," Zubat said.

"So what? We'll get that Relic Fragment from them one way or another," Skuntank said. "That means that the Hidden Land is going to be explored by…none other than us, Team Skull! Chaw-haw-haw!" he added evilly.

"Whoa-ho-ho," Koffing said with a smirk.

"Heh-heh," Zubat said, following suit.

Ali, Chikorita, and all the other guild members had dinner and went to bed; ready to take on the foes that they are going to face the next day.

"I hope we do well tomorrow," Chikorita said nervously.

"I know we'll be alright," Ali said confidently.

"You're right Ali, thanks," she said giving him a hug before she retreated to her own bed.

"Goodnight Chikorita," he said.

"Goodnight Ali," she said and they both went to sleep.

The Next Morning:

Ali and Chikorita woke up the next morning feeling excited about the upcoming exploration to Brine Cave.

"I hope I don't take a lot of damage," Ali said nervously.

"Don't sweat it Ali, if you need to be healed then I'll use synthesis on you," Chikorita assured him.

"Thanks, I'll make sure to keep my health I high as I can," Ali said and Chikorita smiled her approval.

"The guildmaster won't be with us today," Chatot announced, much to everyone's confusion as they all wondered where he could be. "Rest assured that we will be leaving for Brine Cave as scheduled," he went on.

"I hope we can manage without him," Chimecho said nervously.

"We can do it!" Ali cheered and everyone followed his lead. "Let's go!" Ali yelled and they all left the guild with Ali and Chatot leading to go to Brine Cave.

"This is the entrance to Brine Cave; deep inside there is the pattern that looks a lot like Chikorita's Relic Fragment," Chatot said. "Also be aware that there are those vicious bandits that are lurking in the deeper parts of the dungeon.

"Wigglytuff mentioned the bandits yesterday," Chikorita said, "It seems to me that you know just as much about them, Chatot," she added.

"You would be correct, I have been here before with the guildmaster," Chatot said, much to everyone's surprise.

"Do you remember anything about the bandits?" Diglett asked curiously.

"I only remember one thing and that was that I was knocked out right away with a large wave of water," Chatot said as recalled the terrible event that took place all that time in the past.

"Water, so that would put me and my son at a disadvantage," Dugtrio said looking at the entrance. "I hope that we won't have to face many water types," he added nervously.

"I'm a fire type so we'll see how that'll play out," Ali said, also looking at the entrance to the cave.

"Let's get this done!" Chatot cheered and everyone followed suit.

"So Chatot, do you remember anything about this place?" Chikorita asked curiously.

"Apart from what I already told you, no I don't remember anything else," he replied, looking rather impatient at all of Chikorita's questions.

"Let's keep moving," Ali suggested and Chatot was very grateful that Ali said that so that Chikorita could stop interrogating him.

They immediately found out that Chatot was a really good battler. He knew quite a few moves and they all worked together to take down the enemies.

As it turned out, Ali and Chatot could also do a combination, Chatot and Ali would stand back to back and release bursts of energy. Chatot would fly around releasing the energy and Ali would do the same on the ground and they would come together with one final and huge blast.

Ali, of course was still a little young so he couldn't release his energy as well as Chatot could but he thought that he had done a pretty good job so he decided to leave there and keep moving.

They kept going deeper and deeper into the cave and they kept fighting the enemy Pokemon and just kept going until they made it to a clearing.

"Let's take a break for a few minutes," Chatot suggested and Team Drive readily agreed as they all plopped to the ground, Chikorita was attacked from behind and she dropped her Relic Fragment.

"Chaw-haw-haw, you must be idiots if you can let the same people mug you twice," Skuntank said with an evil smirk on his face.

"Ugh, you again?" Ali said angrily.

"Wait I don't understand, you went missing after the expedition, I was fretting over your welfare," Chatot said.

"Wow, he must be an idiot to still believe that garbage," Skuntank said.

"You're through!" Chikorita shouted.

"If you want your Relic Fragment back, you'll have to defeat us in a battle," Skuntank said as a barrier appeared and Team Skull vs. Team Drive (Chatot with Team Drive).

(The Encounter Music starts to play)

Team Skull started by combining their noxious gas special combo and infused it with their Double Team. Ali knew how to counter this as he grabbed one of the clones and spun it around taking out the other clones with it.

Ali would sometimes use Flamethrower to help keep him going. Chikorita and Chatot were also taking out the clones. Chikorita was using Magical Leaf, while Chatot was using Air Slash to defeat the clones.

Unlike last time, Team Skull was not stunned when they had defeated all the clones so they started hurling a Shadow Ball at them and Ali sent it back with Iron Tail and that did some damage.

Skuntank managed to weaken Chikorita down so Koffing finished her off with Sludge Bomb and she simply lie there, unconscious.

"No," Chatot said and he used Air Slash and that took out Zubat and Koffing at the same time.

"Ali!" Chatot yelled and they used their special combination.

"Out of my way!" Chatot yelled as he and Ali started releasing large amounts of energy and that did quite a lot of damage and that knocked him into the air.

Ali took the time that Skuntank was in the air and revived Chikorita and she came back and she clearly wanted revenge.

Chikorita got her revenge by jumping off of Ali's head and pounded Skuntank into the ground by using Body Slam repeatedly and she kept this up even after Skuntank had collapsed from all the damage that he had taken.

"Chikorita, stop!" Ali yelled and when he saw that she wouldn't stop, he had to grab her and pull her away from the unconscious Pokemon.

"LET ME GO, ALI!" she yelled at him, he saw hurt in her eyes because of those bullies and wanted more revenge as she struggled against Ali's grip on her as she desperately tried to free herself.

"Chikorita, look what you did to him," Ali said pointing to the unconscious Skuntank who had quite a few stomp marks all over him after Chikorita had gone berserk.

Chikorita started to cry after seeing what she had done so she started to hug Ali, hoping for at least a little bit of forgiveness for her act and Ali spoke a few words of comfort for her so she would be reassured. After all, he wouldn't want a depressed partner when they finally made it to the Hidden Land and save the world.

"I'm sorry that we put you through all of that," Skuntank muttered as Ali took the Relic Fragment from him.

"I want to know, why did you do that?" Ali asked, "Why did you keep picking on us time and time again?" he asked.

"We did it because…" Skuntank said his voice trailing off.

"Well you've wasting my time and everyone else's time so I think you'd better move it," Chatot said as he started using a bunch of curse words on the team members.

"Whoa, Chatot," Ali said looking surprised.

"I didn't think you would use such language while there were two young Pokemon in the area," Chikorita said.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "How dare they play me for a fool," he said angrily, and the duo nodded their agreement.

"We'd better hurry," Ali said and they ran (or flew) as fast as they could.

They made it to the furthest point and Chatot started looking around and then he looked up and saw the bandits.

"Look out!" he yelled and he, Ali, and Chikorita got out of the way to see the three bandits that they were talking about.

**That's enough for me I think I'll take a break and start doing some other stuff. I do read your reviews. Where do you think I get some of the ideas for the stories? I get them from you guys. Thanks for sticking with me all this time.**

**Read and Review for sure.**

**Until next time, Sora532 out.**


	23. Hidden Land and Goodbyes

Not really much to say here apart from Read and Review. I like the fact that you guys have been reading and giving me awesome suggestions for future chapters and stories. Yes I do read the reviews I get. I think that there are going to be some pretty good fight scenes.

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon or any of its characters.**

Chapter 22

Ali and Chikorita managed to get a good look at the bandits that Chatot was talking about before they came to Brine Cave.

They saw an Armaldo and two Cradily on either side of him and they also saw Chatot on the ground.

"Chatot, NO!" Chikorita screeched as she looked at the bandits with rage in her eyes.

"Hey, Armaldo, I recognize that bird," Cradily said, realization dawning on his face.

"Yeah, he was that who took the hits four times and then fainted," the other Cradily said.

"Wow, to take four hits like that and still come back for more, talk about beyond stupid," Armaldo said coldly.

"I won't leave my friends alone," Chatot muttered and then he fainted with a thud.

"Chatot," Ali muttered looking at the Pokemon before them.

"That's enough!" Chikorita yelled. "We're gonna take you all down if it's the last thing we do!" she screamed.

"Our turn," Ali muttered as the bandits sped towards them.

(Vim and Vigor starts to play)

:

Ali and Chikorita being the speedy pair that they are dash toward the bandits and jumped the Hydro Pumps and Ali spun and used Brick Break and followed up with Iron Tail and then Flamethrower. Chikorita jumped and used Magical Leaf and followed up with Energy Ball and then Body Slam.

All of the Bandits used Earthquake, and while it didn't do any damage to each other having used Protect before hand, the Earthquake knocked Ali in the air and they we're quick to combo him with a series of Rock Slides, all of them were hits and were super effective too, Ali managed to recover and stays in the air as much as possible.

Chikorita couldn't block all of the Earthquakes so she was also knocked into the air and she wasn't as good at regaining her balance as Ali was so he had to grab her and make sure that she was able to jump high.

"Chikorita," Ali called and she knew immediately what he wanted to and she started firing Magical Leaf and Ali used Iron Tail to give it some more power and that knocked out the Cradily pretty quickly and it managed to break Armaldo's defenses.

Ali used this opportunity to combo Armaldo and Chikorita seized her chance and ran over to Chatot and she used synthesis on herself and him so that he would hopefully get some of his energy back.

"I'm through playing games!" Armaldo said angrily and he used X-scissor and Ali rolled right underneath it, he tried to counter with a combo but Armaldo just blocked the slashes.

"This is going to be harder than I thought," Ali said as he sprinted to the left to dodge another X-scissor.

"Chatot are you alright?" Chikorita asked.

"I'll be fine," Chatot said as he got to his feet and saw Ali take on Armaldo. "I think he's going to need your help," he muttered as Chikorita saw what position he was in and that he was panting from all the energy the battle had consumed.

Armaldo ran at Ali with Metal Claw and Ali guarded it with his Iron Tail and they both stood there for a second trying to break the other's defense. Ali then slid around Armaldo and hit him from behind with an Iron Tail and that stunned him.

Chikorita ran over to Ali and used synthesis on him.

"Thanks Chikorita," Ali said as he unleashed a powerful combo of Brick Break attacks in a barrage that finally finished Armaldo off.

"Finally," Ali said panting.

"That was probably the most intense battle we've ever had to face," Chikorita said.

"You did it, you beat the bandits," Chatot said, limping over to them.

"I just hope that they don't interfere further with our plans," Ali said.

A few minutes later, the Guildmaster, Grovyle, Celebi, and all the guild members make and they saw Chatot close to fainting.

"CHATOT!" Wigglytuff yelled.

"Wigglytuff, he needs help NOW!" Ali yelled.

The guild members noticed that Grovyle is there and start looking at him with nervousness and then shouted "GROVYLE!"

"It's okay guys, we're all friends here," Ali said, sensing a fight in the near future and was keen on avoiding it.

"If that's true, then who's that?" Corphish asked pointing at Celebi who was flying around Grovyle.

"That's Celebi," Ali explained and he recounted everything that Grovyle had told him about her species.

"Whoa, you can travel through time?" Chimecho asked amazed.

"You bet I can," Celebi said cheerfully.

The guild members turned their attention back to Chatot and completely forgot that Grovyle and Celebi were there.

"Chatot, are you hurt?" Wigglytuff asked, tears welling up in his eyes.

"I'm well and hearty as you can see," Chatot said panting heavily.

"I'm sorry Chatot, if I had come sooner I could had done more to help," Wigglytuff said.

"Please don't blame yourself Guildmaster," Chatot said still panting. "I can't believe that I was defeated by the same enemies AGAIN," he said angrily.

"Chatot, I want you to know that the reason that you were knocked so quickly was because you were protecting me," Wigglytuff said, "You were knocked out right away but I sent them packing after that and that was all thanks to you give me a warning and taking the hit for me so that I could take them down," he went on to explain.

"If that's the case, then I'm such a happy Pokemon," Chatot said and then he fell to the ground with a thud.

"Chatot!" Ali yelled as he looked at the fallen Pokemon.

Grovyle and Celebi approached him and took a good look and told everyone that Chatot still has time and that everyone should go to the guild.

"Right," Chikorita said as she made to follow the guild members back.

"No, Chikorita, you, Grovyle, Celebi, and Ali have to move ahead," Wigglytuff said grimly.

"But…" Ali said, his voice trailing off.

"If you don't keep moving, Chatot's sacrifice will have meant nothing," Wigglytuff said.

"The pattern is up ahead," he added to Grovyle and Celebi who both nodded.

"Thanks Wigglytuff," Grovyle muttered and the guild members ran away, Loudred carrying Chatot as they ran.

"So Grovyle, how'd you know where to find us?" Chikorita asked.

"Wigglytuff found Celebi and I and told us what happened," Grovyle explained.

"Really? That's pretty cool," Chikorita said.

"He had really good timing as Grovyle and I were just about to join you two anyway," Celebi explained.

"Does that mean you have recovered all five time gears?" Ali asked.

"You bet," Celebi said.

"This is it," Ali said a few minutes later as Chikorita revealed her Relic Fragment and a bright light glowed from the pattern on the wall and it was growing brighter and brighter and everyone had to cover there eyes.

A few seconds later the light faded away and they heard something approaching.

"What's that?" Ali asked looking around for the source of the sound.

"I think the key to the Hidden Land is about to reveal itself," Celebi said looking around as well.

A couple seconds later, they saw the silhouette of a Pokemon, and it was coming closer and closer, really fast.

The creature got close enough to make out its physical features, it was blue, it had a long neck, it had four long flippers; two on each side and it had a shell.

"Who're you?" Ali asked.

"I'm Lapras, I take it you all came here to go to the Hidden Land?" she asked, eyeing all of them.

"Yes, we all want to go," Ali said with a grin and Lapras stared into his eyes for a few seconds as though in a trance.

Ali felt really nervous and ran off and hid behind Chikorita who started blushing.

Lapras noticed this and grinned, she thought it was pretty funny.

"Ali, Chikorita, Grovyle, and Celebi, are you ready to go?" Lapras asked.

"Yeah, but how do you know our names?" Celebi asked curiously.

"Wigglytuff told me all about you four," Lapras said with a smile.

"Well if you know the state that this time is in then we'd better get going," Ali suggested and everyone agreed.

"Well, step onto my back and I'll take you there," Lapras said, patting her back and winking at Ali who was still a bit nervous and Chikorita stared at her coldly and she quickly stopped.

Grovyle lead Celebi onto Lapras's back and they both sat together on one side. Ali then guided Chikorita onto Lapras's back and sat on the other side.

"Once we leave there's no turning back, its either victory or oblivion, so you guys, are you ready?" Ali asked and they all nodded.

"Let's go!" Celebi said and Lapras left Brine Cave behind.

Back at the Guild:

Chimecho and Wigglytuff were doing everything in their power to make sure that Chatot's health wouldn't get any worse than it was already.

A few minutes went by and the healing duo came out of the hospital site.

"How's Chatot?" Sunflora asked.

"Much better," Chimecho replied.

"Guildmaster, you said that you have been to Brine Cave once before, hey hey," Corphish asked.

"Yes, indeed," Wigglytuff said nodding.

"Could you tell us what happened?" Corphish asked.

"Yep, here's what happened," Wigglytuff said.

Flashback:

A younger Wigglytuff and a younger Chatot were exploring Brine Cave; they approached a dead end.

"This is as far as we can go," Chatot said looking around.

"Maybe so maybe not," Wigglytuff said, "I think that there is more here than meets the eye," he added.

"Look out!" Chatot yelled and forced Wigglytuff out of the way as he saw a trio of Pokemon fire a series of Hydro Pumps and Chatot took the full blunt of it and promptly fainted.

"Chatot…NO!" Wigglytuff screamed as he found himself surrounded.

"Get out of here," Armaldo said coldly.

"You'll pay for this," Wigglytuff said as they fired Hydro Pump and Wigglytuff countered with Hyper Voice and spun around while doing it.

In an instant, they were all unconscious and Wigglytuff stood there looking scared for his friend.

"Chatot, speak to me," Wigglytuff pleaded and he didn't move.

"I can help your fallen friend," a voice said.

"Who are you?" Wigglytuff said looking around.

"I'm Lapras," the voice and revealed herself to him.

"Would you mind helping my friend?" he asked desperately and she nodded as she started to glow in a bright yellow light and Chatot also was enveloped in that same light and he managed to get back to his feet but was very disoriented.

"I have one request, stay away from this place," she pleaded and Wigglytuff readily agreed.

End of Flashback

"That's what happened," Wigglytuff finished.

"That's quite some story," Chimecho said looking awed.

Back with the quartet:

"So that's what happened the first time around," Ali said looking surprised as Lapras finished her story

"Lapras, are you sure you are not tired yet?" Chikorita asked, "You've been swimming an awfully long time," she added worriedly.

"No need to worry," Lapras said cheerfully, "Besides, we're almost there," she added thoughtfully.

"Here we go!" Grovyle yelled as Lapras swam faster and faster and she started to gain altitude.

"Are we flying?!" Ali asked incredulously.

"No, we are crossing the stream of time!" Lapras yelled.

She kept "gliding" and eventually they reached the Hidden Land.

"This is the farthest I can take you," Lapras said sadly as she looked at the quartet.

"This is it," Ali said looking at the entrance to the Hidden Land.

"Let's go!" Grovyle declared and they all bravely marched through the Hidden Land and they defeated the enemies with immense ease.

They eventually arrived at the Old Ruins and saw pictures of legendary Pokemon on the murals.

"Whoa," Ali said looking at all of them, trying to identify them all.

"Ali, check this out," Celebi said as they all ran up the stairs and started looking at the temple.

"What's this?" Ali asked looking at the words inscribed on the tablet.

"This is the ancient language of the Unown," Grovyle said as he tried to decipher what it said.

A few seconds later Grovyle figured it out and told Chikorita to put her Relic Fragment into the indent that was in the temple and that would activate the Rainbow Stoneship.

"That's enough," a voice called and they spun around to see Dusknoir standing there with a cruel smirk on his face as his loyal minions surrounded them.

"You!" Ali said angrily.

"How'd you get here?" Celebi demanded angrily.

"Humph, it was actually quite simple, I had Master Dialga transport us here directly," Dusknoir explained with that cruel smirk never leaving his face.

"That's enough!" Ali said as he got into a stance and got ready to battle.

Dusknoir stole the Relic Fragment and also got into a stance "Are you sure you can win against win against ME?" he asked as they began the battle.

(The Encounter Music starts to play)

The battle started with Ali and Grovyle using their special attack right off the bat. Ali moved around and hit the Sableye from one side while Grovyle would hit it from the other side. They would then move back and Ali would fire a Flamethrower at the Sableye and it took 3 of them down and Grovyle attacked with Bullet Seed.

Ali would use Iron Tail to knock them into the air and do an Air Combo and Grovyle would follow suit using Leaf Blade.

Once that part was done, Ali would use Fire Spin on one side and Grovyle would use Energy Ball on the other side and that would pull the Sableye and Dusknoir toward it and it would slowly deal damage and it lead to a powerful finisher.

After they had finished the combo Ali and Grovyle would give each other a knuckle touch and they kept fighting.

Dusknoir would randomly teleport around the field and attack with Dark Pulse.

Chikorita used Light Screen to block the damage done from the Dark Pulse and then she and Celebi started doing a combination of their own, Chikorita and Celebi would stand back to back and then thorns would pop out of the ground and then they would both spin around and do some minor damage and they would come together for one final blast.

Dusknoir was getting annoyed at all of these combinations so he started teleporting faster and moving around much more quickly.

Ali found it difficult to block his attacks and so he had to sprint away from them. Dusknoir successfully burned Celebi and Chikorita and they were getting weaker and more tired really quickly.

Thankfully Celebi knew Heal Bell and used it right away.

"Thanks," Chikorita said as she set up a Safeguard so that something like that won't ever happen.

"Oh yeah?" Dusknoir said with a smirk and he started firing a frenzy of Shadow Balls and they all hit everyone but only did three quarters of the damage that they normally did and Chikorita didn't take any damage at all, having used synthesis so that provided her with a moment of invincibility and that was enough time to allow her to start dodging.

Unfortunately, Ali was in the worst position because Celebi and Grovyle used Giga Drain to restore their energy a few minutes ago.

"Man, I wish I could heal myself when I needed it the most," Ali said irritably, because he couldn't heal freely. He decided to eat an Oran berry to restore his health and that did the trick.

Dusknoir launched a Dark Pulse and Ali jumped and did a spinning Iron Tail that finished Dusknoir off.

"How'd you like that?" Ali asked and Dusknoir panted.

"I… I ……..I………refuse………….to……………….lose," Dusknoir said as he swiftly covered and knocked them away from him.

"You are all fools," he snarled as they all got back to their feet. "You dared to challenge me," he went on with his rant. "You fools had no chance right from the start, especially with your puny power that is really pathetic," he added coldly.

"Dusknoir is really tough," Celebi muttered.

"Don't give up!" Ali shouted, "There has to be a way out of this," he added.

"Easy for you to say," Grovyle muttered.

"You've done admirably well for those as pathetic as you, but its all over now," Dusknoir said as the mouth on his stomach opened up.

"Uh oh," Celebi said as she saw what was happening.

"Is he going to use a move on us?" Chikorita asked.

"There's gotta be a way to counter this," Ali muttered as he thought as hard as he could and then he had an idea.

"Chikorita, Celebi, and Grovyle," I know how to counter the move he is going to unleash on us," Ali yelled and he quickly explained his idea to the group.

"You want us to force our combined moves down the mouth on his stomach?" Chikorita asked.

"Will that even work?" Celebi asked nervously.

"We won't know until we try!" Grovyle yelled and they all let loose their attacks and they clashed with the Shadow Ball that Dusknoir fired and it eventually was forced back and did so much damage to Dusknoir that he fainted on the spot.

"We…did…it, we've finally beaten Dusknoir," Grovyle said.

"Wow, I didn't think that would work," Ali mumbled.

"It can't be," one of the Sableye said looking surprised. "Wheeh, Lord Dusknoir has been…defeated," he said.

They all looked around nervously before all the Sableye took off for the Dimensional Hole.

"Now is our chance," Grovyle muttered. "Chikorita, you and Celebi get that Relic Fragment into the indent in the stoneship, while Ali and I guard Dusknoir here," Grovyle said.

"Got it," Chikorita said, recovering the Relic Fragment from Dusknoir's grip and she and Celebi dashed up the steps and began inserting the fragment into the indent.

Grovyle turned his attention back to Dusknoir and said, "Humph, your Sableye ran off, you just have no luck attracting reliable allies," he said coldly.

"If the Rainbow Stoneship works, we can go to Temporal Tower, right?" Ali asked.

"Yeah, I really hope that this works," Grovyle said.

Dusknoir began to move and Grovyle warned him not to with an Energy Ball at the ready.

"Ali, Grovyle, and Celebi, is this really what you want?" Dusknoir asked. "If history is changed, then the Pokemon of the future will disappear," Dusknoir said

"What?" Ali asked surprised, "If history is changed, the Pokemon of the future will vanish," Ali repeated.

"It won't be just me or the other Pokemon that reside in the future, it will include you, Celebi, and Ali," Dusknoir went on. "Is that something you really want?" he asked.

"If history is changed, then the future Pokemon will disappear," Ali muttered nervously. "Is what Dusknoir saying really true?" Ali asked.

Grovyle looked Ali for a second and then said, "Yes Ali, all of it is true, if we change history then we will vanish," Grovyle said. "But is does not matter," he added.

"If it means restoring time and bringing peace to the world, it was the whole reason I came to the past in the first place," Grovyle said. "Celebi too…she helped us, knowing that she would disappear if we succeeded," he added.

Ali remembered what Celebi had said to Grovyle in Dusk Forest and now he realized what that truly meant.

"And, Ali… You came here with that same resolve, we came from the future knowing and accepting what could happen should we succeed," Grovyle said.

"But the way you are now, you probably don't remember that resolve so I imagine that this will come as a great shock for you, but think about it, if we don't save Temporal Tower and restore time the Planet will become paralyzed, so we won't have a choice either way," Grovyle said looking at Ali sadly.

"So that's how it was, I came to the past with such a resolve, knowing that if we succeeded we would vanish, but if we don't act, the destruction of time can't be stopped, we have to disappear," Ali said with a determined face as he turned to look at Grovyle.

"Oh, Ali…but one thing changed to us by coming here, we did this because we had nothing to lose and nothing to go back to but… that all changed when you met Chikorita and you became her friend and partner, she really does look up to you, if she found out what might happen to you if we succeed, Chikorita has a good heart and spirit, but if the future is altered and you disappeared, your partner will be…" Grovyle said, his voice trailing off.

"Chikorita will be crushed," Ali finished the sentence. He turned to look at her, as she and Celebi were busy putting in the Relic Fragment, "Chikorita," Ali muttered.

Chikorita and Celebi we're having a little bit of trouble getting it into the indent but they finally managed it.

"We did it!" Chikorita cheered and the pattern was complete.

"What was that?" Ali asked looking around for the source.

"Chikorita has done it, that noise must be the Rainbow Stoneship," Grovyle said looking at the stoneship.

Dusknoir started moving again and attacked Ali who took the attack full force and landed on the ground.

Dusknoir attacked again and Grovyle took the hit this time and landed on the ground.

"That must have taken a heavy toll on you, alright then you're going down first," Dusknoir said.

Grovyle yelled and grabbed Dusknoir and started forcing him back to the future.

"OK team, we're all set and ready to roll," Chikorita said running down the steps with Celebi at her side.

"Grovyle, what are you doing?" Celebi asked.

"I'm taking Dusknoir back to the future with me," Grovyle said as he pushed Dusknoir further.

"Here!" Grovyle yelled throwing them the sack that had the Time Gears and Ali caught it.

"I won't let you," Dusknoir began but Grovyle cut him off.

"Shut up, we're going back," Grovyle said as he and Dusknoir fell through the Dimensional Hole.

"Grovyle," Celebi and Chikorita said with tears in their eyes.

"We better go," Ali said pointing at the stoneship and the two females silently nodded.

"They all stepped on the ship and it slowly began to rise up and they saw the rainbow pattern trailing behind them and the tower floating in the sky.

Everyone was silent because of the knowledge that Grovyle was not going to be with them anymore. Celebi was especially depressed because she was in love with him. Ali knew this because she had told him before they came back to the past.

"We made it," Ali said as he stared at Temporal Tower.

Celebi was still depressed, so Ali took aside so he could try to comfort her.

"Celebi, what's wrong?" Ali asked.

"Ali, I never got to confess my feelings for Grovyle," Celebi said with tears in her eyes.

"If we succeed, you know that we'll disappear right?" Ali asked as quickly and quietly as he could because he didn't want Chikorita to hear what he was saying.

"Well, we might see Grovyle again, we just have to make sure that we succeed and save the world," Ali said quietly.

"Thanks Ali," Celebi muttered and they both headed back to Chikorita.

"What happened?" Chikorita asked.

"Celebi was sad that Grovyle left her," Ali said sadly.

"I see, well we better get going," Chikorita said heading for Temporal Tower.

"Wait, I think I should give us all some new powers for this quest," Celebi suggested and they all nodded.

Ali started to glow yellow and found that he now had traces of yellow on his body and he had a yellow aura surrounding his hands.

Chikorita started to glow red and found that she now had traces of red on her body and she had a yellow aura surrounding her front paws.

Celebi started to glow green and found out that she now had traces of red on her body and she had a green aura surrounding her front paws.

Suddenly they felt a tremor and it was really powerful.

"Whoa, what was that?" Celebi asked.

"I think Temporal Tower has begun to collapse," Ali said grimly.

"C'mon!" Chikorita yelled as she, Celebi, and Ali started to run up Temporal Tower and they defeated enemies that they encountered with a new more powerful resolve: to avenge Grovyle. They kept climbing higher and higher and they eventually came to a clearing.

"Let's rest for a minute," Ali suggested panting as both grass types nodded and they all sat down to rest for a few minutes.

"Can we get going?" Celebi asked, looking rather impatiently at Team Drive and they nodded.

"Let's go," Ali said as they kept running until they had reached the pinnacle of Temporal Tower.

"Whoa," Ali said as he looked around.

"There are the slots for the Time Gears," Celebi said pointing to a staircase a few hundred yards away.

Suddenly in flash of light, Primal Dialga appeared and he looked really angry.

"HOW DARE YOU COME HERE!" Dialga yelled.

"You don't understand, time is going to stop!" Ali pleaded with the Steal-Dragon type.

"TIME, COMING TO A STOP, NONSENSE," Dialga said coldly and he got into a stance, ready to battle.

"It's no use, Ali," Chikorita said.

"She's right, we've got to fight, we have no choice," Celebi said as they all got into a fighting stance.

(Fight to the Death starts to play).

Dialga started by firing a series of Aura spheres at the trio. Ali stepped back, jumped and sliced them with a slash attack. He landed with his eyes closed and the spheres literally were sliced in half.

The trio sprinted to Dialga who used Earth Power and knocked them in the air.

Ali noticed that there were relatively big ledges here and Ali jumped to one of those, while Celebi and Chikorita glided (Celebi using Psychic on Chikorita so she could fly as well) around and distracted Dialga. Ali jumped onto the ground and did a combo of Flamethrowers and Fire Spins they were both direct hits and Dialga countered with a Hyper Beam and Ali sprinted to the nearest ledge and grabbed it holding on for dear life.

Celebi and Chikorita knew that any Pokemon couldn't move right away after using a Hyper Beam and they took this opportunity to unleash their special combo. Celebi would summon spiky thorns from the ground and those would normal knock Pokemon into the air but Dialga held his ground but he still took quite a bit of damage.

They spun around on the ground at a really fast pace and they came back together for one finishing, spiky blast.

Dialga got really mad so he fired a Roar of Time at them, which did two things: number one they were frozen and number two it fired a huge purple beam at them which did MASSIVE damage.

"That's really cheap," Chikorita said.

"I have an idea," Ali said and he told them what his idea was and the grass types were deeply impressed.

Dialga was frozen so Ali, Chikorita, and Celebi did large combos on Dialga and did not let him get so much as a chance at attacking.

"Ali," Chikorita called, telling him that she wanted to do their special attack and Celebi flew off to combo Dialga somewhere else and Chikorita and Ali started batting Magical Leaves at Dialga and they kept it up seven times and they threw it like a frisbee a few times and then launched a Solarbeam at the speed of a rocket and was a direct hit.

Ali quickly sprinted over to Dialga and while he tried to stomp him, Ali rolled and started a Brick Break combo and Dialga was finished.

"How'd you like that?" Ali said with a triumphant grin on his face as Dialga fell with a thud.

"We'd better hurry," Ali said as pulled out the sack of Time Gears and they all put in the gears into the slots on the tower.

They suddenly noticed a blinding light and noticed that Celebi was glowing.

"Celebi, what's happening to you?" Chikorita asked.

"Sorry you two," she said sadly, "It looks like my time is up," she said as she began to grow brighter and brighter and in a flash of light, she was gone.

"CELEBI!!!" Chikorita yelled and she began to cry.

"I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU!" Dialga said in calm manner. "YOU HAVE SAVED THE WORLD AND WENT SO FAR AS TO STOP ME FROM GOING ON A RAMPAGE TO PREVENT THE PLANET'S PARALYSIS," Dialga went on to explain.

"Dialga, has time started to move again?" Ali asked.

"YES, INDEED IT HAS," said Dialga, approaching the twosome.

"So will everything go back to normal?" Chikorita asked.

"YES," Dialga said and they nodded and left Temporal Tower.

As they were walking down the path that led back to the Rainbow Stoneship, Ali found himself slowing down.

_My legs, they feel like lead, it's really heavy and it's hard to move my legs, _Ali thought to himself.

"Ali come on, pick up the pace," Chikorita called.

As Ali keeps going, Ali suddenly can't move anymore. He starts glowing yellow.

"Chikorita!" Ali yelled and she came running over.

"Ali, what now - What the-!? What's happening to you?" she demanded with tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Sorry Chikorita, it looks like I've run out of time, just like Grovyle and Celebi," Ali said sadly.

"Huh? You're-you're out of time? What do you mean?" she asked looking really hurt at losing two friends in one day and had no wish of losing another.

"Dusknoir told me that if we change the future, everyone from the future will vanish…that includes Celebi, Grovyle and…and me," Ali said, tears also forming in his eyes.

"I won't let you leave me, Ali," Chikorita said with a determined face as she stood on top of Ali. "Don't you get it, I only made it this far because you were with me! Don't you understand? You're my mentor, you're my prince in shining armor, Ali, if you left me I… I don't know what I would do," Chikorita said and she started to cry and Ali was starting to glow slightly brighter.

"Chikorita! Do you honestly think that I **want** do this? NO, I don't, you have to live the rest of your life…for both of us! Go home and tell everyone our story…so that no one will ever have to go through this ever again. Besides, Grovyle and Celebi said either have us die and save millions of lives…or let ourselves live and let millions die!" Ali shouted and began crying with Chikorita.

"But…I-Isn't there a way…to save all those lives along with yours?!" she demanded, still on top of him.

"Believe me, Chikorita, I would have given a great deal to make that possible," Ali said. "You're lucky though, I'm the one who's dying here!" Ali said, while Chikorita started hugging him, trying with all her power to keep him from leaving her.

"Ali, there was something that I've always wanted to tell you," Chikorita began but Ali cut her off.

"Seriously, though…Thanks for everything. I loved the times we played…the times we fought…the times we explored. I loved living life with you and Grovyle and everyone. My life was too short, but…I wouldn't have traded any second of it **with you**. This time…I'll never forget you. **I promise,**" Ali said pointing at the spot where his heart was beating.

Ali becomes more enveloped in the yellow light and Chikorita knew that it was now or never and she had to tell him how she felt about him.

"Ali, I LOVE YOU!" she shouted to the world, right as she confessed the light fully envelops him and he disappears from underneath Chikorita. She starts crying at the ground, clutching all that remained of Ali: the Ribbons and the Golden Crown.

"Ali…Ali! Allliiii!!!!" she sobbed.

Chikorita staggers back to the Rainbow Stoneship, carrying the Treasure Bag, the badge, and the crown. She would trip occasionally because of what happened.

"I have to live," she muttered. "I have to get home alive…and tell everyone about what happened…because it was Ali's… last… wish," she said with tears in her eyes.

She made it to the Rainbow Stoneship and was the only one to board it, she felt lonely and sad…she sees Temporal Tower getting farther and farther away.

"Temporal Tower is getting farther away, I'm also going to be farther away from Ali too," Chikorita said and she began to sob knowing that there was no one there who could give her the same comfort that Ali could give.

"I thought that we could be the family that I never got to have…Ali! Celebi! Grovyle! I thought that we had the rest of us…I wish that you guys didn't have to vanish, and leave me behind!" Chikorita yelled.

So Ali and Chikorita finally succeeded in their mission to save the world from total paralysis and disaster. Chikorita left Temporal Tower…and safely returned to Treasure Town. Upon returning to the guild, she told everyone about the whole story…and about Ali. She told the story whenever and wherever possible to as many Pokémon as possible. And in so doing, she preserved the memory of Ali and the hope for world peace. So months passed, Treasure Town returned to its cheerful routines, the scars from the planet's injuries slowly healed, and life gradually returned to normal…except…

Six months later, one evening, Chikorita leaves the guild as Bidoof enters.

"You going out for a walk?" Bidoof asked.

"Yeah, I have a lot on my mind," Chikorita said.

"Well you better not miss dinner," Bidoof said.

"You bet," Chikorita said as she left the guild and headed for the beach.

"Woooow…the sun rises, then it sets…it's all thanks to the flow of time that the planet is able to keep moving and show us this…wonderful sight. And I don't need to know all the answers, as longs as I'm with…with…Oh no. The last time I saw this…was when our adventure began…when I met…**my prince**…" Chikorita said sadly as she remembers everything that had happened as though it were only yesterday. How she had met Ali though he didn't remember his name at the time. How they had formed Team Drive and all the times they played around…of all the times she became brave…of how Ali pulled her through everything…of Grovyle and Celebi…of the future…of his hidden warmth…and finally, of how they placed the last Time Gear in the last slot at exactly the same time.

"Those memories, I'll treasure them forever…but I'll never…see him again…" Chikorita said with tears forming in her eyes again.

Chikorita stares at the sunset and then she collapses, sobbing on the sand, into the crown that she always kept.

"ALI! I miss you so much! I wish you were here with me right now!" she yelled as she kept sobbing.

But no one came. Chikorita had not expected it to work because if she did, Ali would be with her right now and she wouldn't be so sad.

Bidoof came to the beach looking for Chikorita and he found her lying on the sand crying her eyes out.

"Chikorita, what's wrong?" Bidoof asked.

"B-Bidoof, I m-miss h-him," Chikorita stuttered while trying to keep herself from sobbing even harden which she failed miserably at doing.

At Temporal Tower:

"CHIKORITA…WHEN YOU LEFT…I COULD FEEL YOUR SORROW EVEN HERE. AND IF THAT IS HOW YOU FEEL EVEN NOW…ALONG WITH ALI…I WILL GRANT YOUR WISH. THE WORLD STILL NEEDS YOU BOTH. THAT IS WHY…I LEAVE TO YOU…THE FUTURE! THANK YOU FOR SAVING OUR WORLD!" Dialga declared as he roared and it reached outer space.

Suddenly are yellow orb appeared at the same spot Ali appeared the first time they met, could it be?

"To tell the truth Chikorita, I…I love you too," a voice that sounded vividly familiar came to Chikorita's ears.

"Is that?" Chikorita asked as she spun around to see Ali appear in a flash of yellow light. He looked exactly like she remembered him when they said goodbye.

"ALI!" Chikorita yelled as she ran over to Ali and tackled him onto the ground and started clinging to him, afraid that she might lose him again.

"Oh yeah, here's your crown back," she said handing him his crown which he put on his head and returned her hug.

"Let's head back to the guild," Ali said.

"You haven't forgotten me or anyone else have you?" she asked looking scared.

"C'mon Chikorita, I thought you knew me better than that," Ali said with a smirk.

"I'm sorry, I guess its been awhile since I had a really friend by my side," Chikorita said as she moved closer to him.

"I promised I'll never leave you," Ali said.

"Thanks for being there for me Ali," Chikorita said and Ali grinned.

That it for this story. I'm sad that I had to finish it like that. I will do a sequel for this. It won't be very long though so don't expect that much out of it though. I'll do my best to keep writing stories and stay on Fanfiction.

Until my next story, Sora532 out.


	24. Graduation prep

**I bet you guys thought I was finished when I killed off the main character and brought him back a few months later. No that's stupid, I'm going to do the adventures that this duo goes on after they save Temporal Tower.**

Chapter 23:

"So Ali," Chikorita said as he looked at Ali.

"Yeah?" he said turning around to look at her.

"What did you do the last few months that you were gone," she asked curiously.

"Well you see when I vanished, I was brought to a new world where everyone lived in peace and happiness, Dialga gave me the power to glide around so that's how I traveled from place to place," Ali explained as they headed to the guild.

"Is that why you're a bit wobbly on your feet?" she asked noticing that he was having trouble walking seeing as he was holding onto her shoulder for support.

"That's basically the story in a nutshell," Ali grinned.

"Did you mean it when you said it to me?" she asked him.

"What?" Ali said confused.

"I love you," she replied.

"Of course I meant it, why would I lie about it?" he demanded looking offended.

"I wanted to know," she said happily as she moved closer to Ali.

"Here we are," Ali said nervously as they approached the entrance.

"I'll step on the grate," Ali said as he did so.

"Pokémon detected, Pokémon detected," Diglett said.

"Who's footprint, whose footprint?" Loudred asked.

"It's…it's…oh my Arceus…it's ALI!" Diglett said burrowing off to meet them.

"WHAT!" the guild members yelled as they ran outside to meet them.

"ALI!" they all cheered as they all did a little dance ring-around-the rosie style.

"Hey guys, long time no see," Ali replied lauging as the guildmaster and Chatot joined in the fun.

"So, what's with the yellow?" Dugtrio asked pointing at the lines on Ali's body.

Ali immediately looked at himself and immediately realized what he was talking about: The yellow circuit lines that were on him.

"I thought Chikorita would have told you the story," Ali exclaimed, looking at Chikorita.

"I must have forgotten that part," Chikorita admitted sheepishly and Ali just sighed.

"I guess, that I might as well tell you the story," Ali said as they all went to the guild and they in a circle and they all waited for Ali's story.

"Okay here's what happened," Ali said as he recounted his story.

**Flashback: (This is from last chapter):**

"_We made it," Ali said as he stared at Temporal Tower._

_Celebi was still depressed, so Ali took aside so he could try to comfort her._

"_Celebi, what's wrong?" Ali asked._

"_Ali, I never got to confess my feelings for Grovyle," Celebi said with tears in her eyes._

"_If we succeed, you know that we'll disappear right?" Ali asked as quickly and quietly as he could because he didn't want Chikorita to hear what he was saying._

"_Well, we might see Grovyle again, we just have to make sure that we succeed and save the world," Ali said quietly._

"_Thanks Ali," Celebi muttered and they both headed back to Chikorita._

"_What happened?" Chikorita asked._

"_Celebi was sad that Grovyle left her," Ali said sadly._

"_I see, well we better get going," Chikorita said heading for Temporal Tower._

"_Wait, I think I should give us all some new powers for this quest," Celebi suggested and they all nodded._

_Ali started to glow yellow and found that he now had traces of yellow on his body and he had a yellow aura surrounding his hands._

_Chikorita started to glow red and found that she now had traces of red on her body and she had a yellow aura surrounding her front paws._

_Celebi started to glow green and found out that she now had traces of red on her body and she had a green aura surrounding her front paws._

**End of Flashback**

"That's what happened," Ali said as he finished the story.

"Whoa, that would explain why both of you still have circuit lines on your bodies and why your hands and front paws are glowing yellow slightly, hey hey," Corphish said as he figured it out.

"That's exactly right," Ali said nodding.

"How'd you forget that?" Sunflora asked Chikorita.

"I don't know, I feel pathetic for forgetting that especially since I still have that appearance, and I still remember what happened," she said sadly.

"Well, everyone knows so I guess it does matter now, by golly," Bidoof said kindly.

"Well anyway," Ali said with his hands behind his head, he said with a grin.

"We should probably get something to eat, and then we'll do some training, right Ali?" Chikorita asked and Ali looked confused and then got the idea and nodded.

"Ok then," Chimecho said heading to the kitchen.

"I've already got something for us to eat," Chikorita said as she dragged Ali out of the guild and off to Treasure Town.

"What are we doing here?" Ali asked.

"I wanted to ask you something," Chikorita began.

"Look, I already confessed my feelings towards," Ali said impatiently.

"It has nothing to do with that," Chikorita said hastily, "I wanted to know how Grovyle and Celebi are doing since they vanished too right?" she asked.

"Yeah, they did vanish, you know how Celebi had feelings for Grovyle right?" He asked and Chikorita nodded.

"Well you see, they saw each other they both fell in love were too afraid to admit it, I knew already naturally so I helped out a little," Ali said proudly.

"Did you talk to both of them?" Chikorita asked.

"Yeah I did," Ali said.

**Flashback:**

"_Hey! Ali!" Grovyle called._

"_Grovyle!" Ali said and ran to him._

"_I need your help with something," Grovyle said._

"_Well, what is it?" Ali asked._

"_I kinda like Celebi," Grovyle began._

"_Well you're best friends with her, I mean you would be friends with people you hate would you?" Ali asked grinning as Grovyle sweatdropped._

"_You idiot, I mean more than just friends," Grovyle said._

"_Oh, I understand," Ali said with a grin, "You're in love with her aren't you," he said triumphantly._

"_I…I…all right fine, you win, yes I love her," Grovyle said turning away as to prevent Ali from seeing him blush._

"_Well then just tell her," Ali said bluntly._

"_What if she doesn't return my feelings?" Grovyle asked._

"_What if she does?" Ali countered._

"_Fair enough," Grovyle said with a shrug._

"_Well if you want to impress her then take her out on a date or something," Ali said with a shrug. "I'm not at the age where I'm supposed to understand this but I have a pretty good idea," he added as an afterthought._

"_Interesting idea," Grovyle said, "Thanks Ali," he added as he ran to find something to do with Celebi._

_Ali was going to climb a tree but he heard another voice call his name, he turned around to find Celebi looking at him._

"_Hi Celebi," Ali said, trying to climb the tree._

"_Ali can you help me," Celebi pleaded._

"_Why do those words sound familiar?" Ali thought to himself._

"_I know that you already know but I'm in love with Grovyle," Celebi said nervously._

"_Yeah you told me way back in Dusk Forest, subtly but it was pretty obvious," Ali said with a smirk._

"_Oh shut up," Celebi said._

"_Fine," Ali said in mock anger and started to climb the tree and made it to the first branch before Celebi said anything._

"_What should I do?" she asked him._

"_Tell him," Ali said._

"_What if he doesn't like me?" she said with tears in her eyes._

"_What if he does, besides you two have been best friends even before I came into your lives, I can't see why Grovyle might be REALLY fond of you," Ali said with a grin._

"_Thanks Ali," Celebi said flying off and so Ali kept climbing the trees and finally made it to the top._

"_I'm King of the World," Ali said doing a victory pose. "It's just not the same without Chikorita," he muttered as he thought back to her and what she could be doing. _

"_She's probably gone to join with Piplup and Cyndaquil," Ali thought._

"_I better see how Grovyle and Celebi are doing," Ali said jumping from the tree and glided to Grovyle's place._

"_Grovyle, you look so ready for your date," Dusknoir said._

"_I hope so," Grovyle said, "Drat, where's Ali," he thought nervously._

_As though on cue, Ali burst into the room._

"_I'm here, what'd I miss?" he asked panting._

"_Well you missed Grovyle getting ready._

"_Let's go," Ali said dragging Grovyle out and taking him to the beach._

"_Does Celebi know that you are coming here?" Ali asked._

"_Of cours;, I asked her out and she looked pretty happy about it," Grovyle said._

"_There she is," Ali said pointing to the Pink fairy._

"_Hi Grovyle, hi Ali," she said._

"_I better leave you two LOVEBIRDS alone," Ali said as he walked away and the two grass types were beet red at Ali's comment._

"_This was a wonderful idea, Grovyle," Celebi said moving closer to him," Celebi said happily._

"_Thanks Celebi, I thought the sunset would look beautiful, just like you," Grovyle said and immediately closed his mouth and Celebi blushed even harder if that was even possible._

"_Did he just say that about me? I must be dreaming, this is the happiest day of my life," Celebi thought._

"_Celebi looks pretty happy, I think that I can confess my feelings for her, Thank you Ali," Grovyle thought._

"_Grovyle, I have something I need to tell you," Celebi began. "Ever since we met, I've grown quite fond of you," she said and blushed harder than ever._

"_I feel the same way if not more for you too," Grovyle said as they moved closer together and embraced._

"_I love you Grovyle," Celebi whispered._

"_I love you too, Celebi," Grovyle whispered._

"_That was beautiful," Ali muttered as he watched the whole thing happening._

End of Flash

"So that's what happened," Chikorita muttered.

"Yup," Ali said happily.

"Well anyway, we came to Treasure Town so I could get ready to take the graduation exam," Chikorita added.

"Really? Congratulations Chikorita," Ali said cheerfully.

"Hey! You think I'm going to take it by myself?" she demanded.

"Why? Do you have somebody in mind that you were hoping to go with?" Ali asked.

"YES, YOU!" she yelled.

"Me?" Ali asked pointing at himself and she nodded.

"SWEET," Ali cheered.

"Why would you think that I would be with someone else?" Chikorita asked.

"I thought that you might have met someone else and continued the team with that Pokemon," Ali said.

"No, I will do it with you and you alone," Chikorita said blushing.

"Thanks," Ali said as she gave him a hug.

Chikorita handed him back his ribbons and his other piece of armor and she went to buy some supplies and Ali went to get something out of Kangaskhan Storage.

"I guess we're all set then," Ali said as he put the last of things in the treasure bag.

"Oh yeah, there's one more thing," Chikorita said, handing him a badge with a red diamond center.

"So you made it to Diamond Rank all by yourself?" Ali asked, grinning.

"Yeah, I was really surprised, but I have you to thank for that," Chikorita said.

"Let's head back to the guild and we can hear about you adventures while I was gone," Ali said as they ran back to the guild.

Chikorita was telling him about her adventures and her new discoveries.

"Wow, I think I'm just dragging you down, maybe I should quit," Ali said jokingly but Chikorita looked really ticked.

"HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST SOMETHING LIKE THAT!" She yelled as she grabbed with her vine whip and dragged him to her and she knocked him to the ground and started hugging the life out of Ali.

"I'm sorry, it was only a joke, I didn't mean to offend you," Ali said gasping for air but Chikorita merely held on with all the force that she had because she doesn't want Ali to ever leave her side again.

"I'm…sorry," Ali gasped because Chikorita was suffocating him. She noticed this and loosened her grip so he could breathe.

"Wow, you are way stronger now then from the last time I saw you," Ali commented as she blushed.

"I think we should go to bed because it's going to be a long day tomorrow and I want you and I to be at the top of out games," Chikorita said with a determined face.

I lied when I said that the story was coming to a close last chapter. I hope you guys keeping reading and REVIEWING this story. This is a story that I'm very proud of so please PLEASE read and REVIEW.

**Until next chapter, Sora532 out.**


	25. The Graduation Exam

**I won't give up! I'll keep updating as long as you guys keep reading and reviewing. Hooray! The week is done! Time to celebrate! But seriously, thanks for reading and reviewing my stories, keep going you guys!**

**I don't need to say that I DON'T OWN POKEMON! Do I? **

Chapter 24

Ali and Chikorita woke up the next morning and headed for the briefing as everyone found out that they were taking the graduation exam.

"WHAT!" was everyone's response when Chatot announced this piece of news.

"But Chatot, we've been training much longer than they have, so why do they get to take the exam before us, hey hey?" Corphish asked.

"Well, they've been working hard and have save the world no less," Chatot chimed in a sing-song voice, "It's only naturally that they have earned the right to be tested," he went on to explain.

Everyone sighed because they wished they could take the graduation exam instead of Ali and Chikorita.

"Let's get to work!" Chatot said cheerfully

"HOORAY!" Everyone cheered and left to do their jobs.

"So what are we supposed to do?" Ali asked as they headed out of the guild.

"Chatot said that we have to go to Mystifying Forest and recover the treasure that rests there while avoiding the Grand Master of all things Bad," Chikorita said.

"The Grand Master of all things Bad?" Ali repeated looking as though he were close to laughter.

"Yup, let's go," she said as he ran off for Mystifying Forest with her chasing after him.

"So this is the place?" he asked looking at the place.

"C'mon," she urged and he followed her inside.

(Cavern of Remembrance Music starts to play)

"Wow, this is really pretty." Ali said looking around at what he saw.

"I know, it's really peaceful and quiet," Chikorita said, slowing her pace so she could enjoy the scenery.

It was nice that Chikorita had Ali by her side again after months of traveling either solo or with a member that she had recruited. She did not deny that it was an interesting change of pace but she was lonely and she wanted someone to talk to, someone that she knew and cared about and that was Ali. He was her prince and she loved him with all her heart and that would never change.

"Wow, we made it really far," Ali noted as they proceeded further along the path that led into the deepest part of the forest.

"We managed to beat the enemies because you and I are a good team," Chikorita said, blushing.

"I think we're one of the best combinations ever," he said cheerfully, "C'mon, let's go," he added as they kept walking.

They kept going only to fall into a pitfall trap.

"Who the heck dug a pitfall trap here?" Chikorita said angrily.

"Who cares, let's get out of here," Ali said grabbing Chikorita and started to climb only to find that the hole was being sealed shut.

"Are you kidding me?" Chikorita said incredulously when the hole was really close to being sealed shut.

"NO!" Ali yelled when it was completely sealed.

"We're trapped," Chikorita said.

"Yeah," Ali said.

"This darkness, will be the last thing you see," a voice said coldly.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" Chikorita demanded.

"You ask us that?" the voice asked.

"Yeah, now show yourself," Ali said impatiently.

"It is I, the Grand Master of all things bad," the voice said and Ali and Chikorita sweatdropped.

"Okay then," Ali said skeptically as the light started to come back and he got a better look around and saw that they were surrounded by the guild members.

They seem to have noticed when they saw the light and quickly gestured to Bidoof to close again and Ali looked up to see a flustered Bidoof sealing the hole again.

"You've gotta be kidding," Ali said irritably.

"C'mon you guys, let us out or we'll battle our way out," Chikorita said.

"How about number two," one of the minions said.

"We're surrounded!" Chikorita said as she saw everyone single one of the guild members.

"Stop messing around, Wigglytuff," Ali said impatiently.

"Who's Wigglytuff?" the Grand Master asked. "I've never heard of him," he added.

"Okay," Team Drive said, sweat-dropping.

"You're through," Wigglytuff said as they all attacked.

(Rowdy Rumble starts to play)

Ali and Chikorita were back to back and started to attack; Ali was taking out Chatot with Flamethrower while Chikorita was attacking Dugtrio with Magical Leaf.

The dynamic duo slowly took out each minion, one at a time, until it was just Corphish, Loudred, and Wigglytuff who were stilling standing.

Corphish made clones of himself using Double Team and Ali and Chikorita slid around them and dodged the attacks and Ali grabbed a clone and threw it at another and those vanished. Chikorita grabbed another, which happened to be real by the teeth, and spun him around and he hit a wall and was knocked out.

Loudred used Rock Smash, which Ali jumped and did a spinning Iron Tail on him and knocked him into the air and that KO'd him too.

"You're finished," Wigglytuff said as he fired Hyper Voice and that forced Team Drive into the air but Ali recovered, Chikorita was not as lucky as she slammed into a wall but was still conscious.

She decided to get a little payback by using Giga Drain on Wigglytuff and she healed herself with that attack.

Ali who was getting tired from all the fighting decided to finish it with one special combo.

"Chikorita!" he called and she new immediately what he wanted to do. She was actually amazed that they hadn't forgotten about this technique of theirs after all these months of being apart.

They batted the Magical Leaves towards Wigglytuff and he was knocked into the air and Ali took this opportunity to go long range with a Flamethrower that knocked him out.

"Retreat!" Wigglytuff yelled as he ran out the hole with the "minions" quickly following suit as they ran away too.

"Okay," Ali said, his head cocked sideways in confusion.

"Let's keep moving," Chikorita suggested as they headed to the deepest part.

"What's this?" Ali said, looking at the treasure chest.

"That must be the treasure chest," Chikorita said excitedly. "C'mon open it already!" she added looking really excited.

"Okay, I'll open it," Ali said. _I wonder if my dimensional scream will still work, I hope it does then we can know what this truly might be. _Ali thought with a grin on his face.

As Ali touched the chest his Dimensional Scream activated and showed him that Wigglytuff put it there himself.

"If Wigglytuff put it here then it must be…" Ali muttered under his breath as it trailed off.

"Okay," he said opening the chest to reveal the treasure: A Perfect Apple. _I guess it's Wigglytuff's style. _Ali thought, sweat-dropping.

A light suddenly appeared at the center of the spring.

"Do you seek evolution?" A voice asked.

"Evolution?" Ali asked and Chikorita fell anime style.

"Your form changes and you gain new abilities and moves," Chikorita explained.

"Cool," Ali said as he approached the light.

"So do you want to go first, or should I?" Chikorita asked.

"You can go first," Ali said as she walked onto the new pathway and entered the light.

"No, impossible, you are not ready yet," the voice said.

"WHAT?" Chikorita yelled.

"You cannot evolve yet," the voice called "and the one behind you is not allowed to evolve yet either," it added.

"Why not? she demanded.

"The reason is unknown," The voice replied.

"Oh well," Ali said, "We got the treasure, let's go," he added and they left with Chikorita grumbling about being unable to evolve.

"Congratulations, you did it!" Wigglytuff cheered.

"You passed the graduation exam, why aren't you happy about it?" Chimecho asked.

"The stupid spring won't let us evolve!" Chikorita snapped.

"Who cares about that, you brought back a wonderful treasure: A Perfect Apple! Besides, you two defeated the Grand Master of all things Bad!" Wigglytuff exclaimed.

"That's just it, how'd YOU know that we beat him and his loyal minions?" Ali asked with an amused smirk on his face.

"Uh, a little birdie told me," Wigglytuff said.

"Riiiiiight," Ali said sweat-dropping and everyone else laughed nervously.

"You are no longer bound by the guild's regulations anymore," Chatot said.

"Does that mean that we get to keep ALL of the money from the jobs that we do?" Chikorita asked.

"Something tells me, no," Ali mumbled.

"No, since you are still affiliated with us, you two would have not become an exploration team without us," Chatot said.

"I knew it," Ali sighed while Chikorita looked disappointed.

"But then nothing changed," Chikorita said.

"Hey, cheer up, you graduated, you did it," Sunflora said happily.

"Yeah, I couldn't even pass that test, so cheer up and be proud of yourselves," Loudred said.

"Congratulations, Team Drive! You passed today, and Ali I hope to see you soon!" Wigglytuff cheered and more confetti popped out and them both did a victory pose.

When they left, the guild gave Ali and Chikorita a whopping ten thousand Poke for start up funds.

"We did it!" Ali cheered. "So where will we live now?" he asked.

"We can go to Sharpedo Bluff," Chikorita suggested and he agreed as he led the way to the cave.

"This place is still awesome, even after all this time," Ali commented, looking around.

"Please Ali, your making me blush," Chikorita said as she started blushing pink.

"Don't you remember what I told on the day we met? It's fun making you blush," Ali said with a grin.

Chikorita responded by tickling him with a Vine Whip.

"Hey that tickles," Ali said as he grabbed a pillow and blocked her Vine Whip and laughed all the while and she eventually joined in too.

"You do realize that we fought all the Guild Members back there right?" Ali asked and Chikorita nodded.

"I still think that it sucks that we didn't beat a real outlaw in the exam and we can't evolve yet," Chikorita said irritably.

"We still did a good job like always, and besides I doubt the Guildmaster would draft a REAL outlaw to use for the exam," Ali said as he headed for bed.

"Do you think that we'll be able to evolve?" Chikorita asked.

"Maybe it was because we just met up again a few days ago after months of being apart from each other so maybe we'll need a little bit more time and training," Ali said thoughtfully.

"I HOPE you're right, Ali," Chikorita mumbled as he went to sleep.

"Night Ali," she murmured.

"Goodnight, Chikorita," Ali murmured back as they both fell asleep, wondering what new adventures they would have now that they have graduated.

**What did you guys think? If you are still annoyed that I didn't finish the story in Chapter 22, I'm sorry but there will be even more epic battles for these two so why leave them out? Anyway, please READ and REVIEW!**

**Until then next update, Sora532 out.**


	26. Sky Peak HOORAY!

Hey guys, I'm back, I have been putting this off for a while now so I'll just get things started. I'm starting to question if this truly was a good idea, tell me what you think.

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokemon!**

Chapter 25

Ali and Chikorita woke up the next morning and went to Spinda's café so they could get something to drink before doing their jobs for the day.

Spinda then announced that they had discovered a new area called Sky Peak and this caught everyone's attention.

"What's Sky Peak," Chikorita asked, looking around.

"It's a really tall mountain that is said to reach beyond the sky, however it surrounded by an impassible mountain range so it is really difficult to get there," Mr. Mime explained.

" You're absolutely right, you sure know your stuff," Spinda commented and Mr. Mime said a word of thanks.

"Anyway, one of our teams has found a village at the foot of the mountain and now we can start exploring the area, think of the treasures, discoveries and most importantly the fun, the treasures there are ones above all others," Spinda said cheerfully.

"That's sounds so awesome," Octillery said, looking excited at the prospect of doing something.

"Let's go!" Chikorita declared and they all headed to Shaymin village.

"So this is Sky Peak, huh?" Ali asked, looking around at the village.

"I guess this must be the Shaymin Village that Spinda was talking about," Chikorita said as she looked around.

"This is really cool," she added as an afterthought.

"Let's go," Ali said as he headed for Sky Peak.

"Hey, would you like me to guide to up the mountain?" A voice asked and they turned to see a white Pokemon with a green top and a flower on her head.

"Who are you?" Ali asked curiously.

"I'm Shaymin, its nice to meet you, I live here in the village," she replied with a smile on her face.

"That's really cool," Chikorita said, looking around amazed at what she was seeing.

"Then again, everyone here is a Shaymin so it would be a bit difficult to tell each of us apart wouldn't it," she added thoughtfully.

"I guess it would, anyway we're Team Drive," Ali said.

"So would you like me to guide you up the mountain?" she offered.

"Yeah, let's go," said Chikorita, and they departed so they could begin hiking.

"I take it you know this place well?" Ali asked as they climbed.

"Oh yes, you see, we've lived here for a long time so we would know a lot about the mountain, though we haven't actually guided anyone up the mountain in a long time until that Earthquake a while back destroyed the pass blocking the village so we can start guiding people up the mountain and its pretty awesome, we were really surprised when we saw the survey team walk into the village," Shaymin explained.

"That's so cool," said Ali as they approached the first station clearing.

"Hi you guys," Team Frontier said, looking at the trio.

"So, how's climbing the mountain for you?" Chikorita asked.

"It's pretty intense," Breloom said thoughtfully.

"But it is a lot of fun to explore this place," Mawhile added.

"Well, here there are ten station clearings each labeled one though ten, and ten is the summit," Shaymin explained.

"Okay, so you wouldn't mind if set up some kind of rest stop at some of the clearings would you?" Machoke asked.

"It's fine with me," Shaymin said with a smile.

"Awesome," they cheered and left for the next station clearing.

"So, is there anything you wanted to do here before we head up further?" Shaymin asked, turning to her new friends.

"Yeah, I've got a question," Ali said, raising his hand.

"What is it?" she replied, turning to look at him.

"What are these?" he asked, pulling out a bunch of boxes from the treasure bag.

"Oh, you've found some sky gifts," Shaymin exclaimed, looking surprised.

"Sky Gifts, what are those?" Chikorita asked curiously.

"They are intended to be given to a friend and if you open them now, you will find nothing in there," Shaymin said, gesturing to the box in Ali's hands.

"Wow, I guess we'll have to give some to the guild members," Chikorita said pulling out the Sky gifts that they had and began to count them.

"Wow, you've found ten sky gifts at the first leg of the journey?" Shaymin asked incredulously.

"They weren't exactly easy to miss," Ali said somewhat defensively and Shaymin merely shrugged.

"Let's put them away for safe keeping," Chikorita suggested as they put the sky gifts into the Kangaskhan statue and were sent to the storage facility in Treasure Town.

"Let's keep moving," Shaymin persisted and they headed further up the mountain.

"The view just keeps getting better and better as you keep climbing higher and higher," Ali exclaimed as they saw the world from a new perspective.

"This is so cool," Chikorita said as she stared romantically at the view in front of them, having passed through the second and third station clearing and using what they had to offer to their fullest.

"Yeah, I think it's beautiful too," Ali said, nodding in agreement, "Thanks Shaymin for guiding us up the mountain," he added turning to Shaymin.

"It's nice to know that someone acknowledges my existence," Shaymin said playfully and everyone laughed.

"So what's next?" Ali asked as they decided to take a break at the fourth station clearing and saw all kinds of Pokemon resting and preparing for the rest of the climb.

Ali started to talk to some of the other Pokemon and he handed them some of the items that they needed.

"Ali, I see that you are a very generous Pokemon," Shaymin commented as he gave them some of the items that they needed.

"Chikorita, you don't mind me doing this, do you?" Ali asked nervously.

"I'm cool with it, anything to help out a fellow Pokemon," Chikorita said cheerfully.

The Pokemon were really grateful for the items and gave Ali a Sky Gift, which he gave to Chikorita and it had a Pecha berry in it.

"Ali, thank you," Chikorita beamed.

"Don't thank me, thank Pachirisu for giving me the gift in the first place," Ali said, gesturing to the electric squirrel who waved at them and they waved back.

"Thank you Pachirisu," Chikorita said happily.

"Sure," he replied.

"HELP!!!!" A voice called and everyone spun around to see Octillery run to the clearing.

"What's wrong?" Ali asked running over to the Octillery.

"The explorer Sneasel is getting picked on at the fifth station clearing!" Octillery panted trying to get his point across. "I'm not much help by myself, can someone come with me so we can help?" he asked.

"We'll go!" Team Drive and Team Frontier offered.

"I don't like this sound of this," Shaymin said worriedly, "Oh no!" Shaymin exclaimed.

"What's wrong?" Ali asked.

"No time, we have to go!" Shaymin yelled and they all ran to the fifth station clearing and saw that Sneasel was being attacked by six Carnivine.

"Are you all right, we've come to help," Mawhile exclaimed.

"I'm being attacked right now, what do you think?" Sneasel shot back and Team Frontier sweat dropped.

"We'll help," Chikorita said as they popped.

"Hey wait a minute," Ali and Shaymin said in unison but it was too late and the battle had started.

It was Team Frontier and Chikorita vs. Five Carnivine. Ali and Shaymin were dodging attacks so that they wouldn't take damage while trying to stop the fight.

After a few minutes of attacking on both sides, Ali and Shaymin managed to stop it.

"You guys, hold up for a minute!" Shaymin yelled.

"I think we have to listen what Shaymin has to say," Ali suggested.

The Carnivine recognized the Shaymin and greeted her like they were friends.

"It's been a while, Shaymin," one of the Carnivine said with a smile on his face.

"I'm sorry, I forgot to warn them that this was Carnivine territory," Shaymin said with an apologetic look on her face. "You guys haven't changed one bit, we asked before hand to stop bothering the explorers that come to the village!" Shaymin shouted irritably.

" But that Sneasel over there started it, we found some treasure and he snatched it from right out from under our noses," Carnivine protested.

"Where'd he go?" another Carnivine said, looking around to find that he was no longer there.

"Darn it, he escaped in all the confusion," another Carnivine said, cursing under his breath.

"And here we thought that you were the bad guys!" Machoke said, looking taken aback.

"Well you can't really say that they are good stuff either," Shaymin said thoughtfully.

"Hey, we haven't seen you in such a long time, and this is how you treat us Shaymin?" Carnivine in the middle said in protest. "Meh, it's fine, since it's Shaymin, we let you guys go," he said and they left.

"Thanks Shaymin," Ali said, sighing in relief.

"C'mon, let's keep moving," said Chikorita as they headed for the next station clearing.

Ali noticed that as they kept going higher and higher, Shaymin and Chikorita would huddle closer to him, he thought it was getting colder so they needed him for the fire.

"I guess there will be no more bases at anymore station clearings," Chikorita said.

"I guess not," Shaymin said.

"We better pick up the pace, I really want to see the summit," Ali said excitedly.

They arrived at the seventh station clearing and found Team Frontier trying to revive Sneasel that the Carnivine attacked.

"There's an expert at the eight station clearing that could possibly help us," Shaymin said nervously.

"Okay, let's go," Chikorita said as they moved closer together.

"Ali, you said you love me," Chikorita said randomly as they kept climbing.

"Huh? Why bring it up now?" Ali asked.

"When will we live happily ever after?" Chikorita asked.

"What do you mean? I thought we were living happily ever after," Ali said with a frown.

"When will we get married?" she asked bluntly and this made Shaymin stop dead in her tracks.

"I don't know," Ali sighed and Shaymin looked disappointed.

"I take it that you two are a couple now?" Shaymin asked sadly.

"Yeah, we are," said Chikorita joyfully and Shaymin just looked more depressed.

"Why so glum," Ali asked.

"Oh its nothing," Shaymin replied.

"Okay then, let's keep moving, we have to find that Pokémon Shaymin was talking about," Ali said as they arrived at the eighth station clearing to find an Ampharos sitting near the fire.

He noticed that someone was there and came to meet them.

"Shaymin, it's been too long my friend," he said warmly.

"Hi Ampharos, we need your help, A Sneasel is knocked out at the Seventh Station Clearing," Shaymin began but Ampharos cut her off.

"Yes, I know, I was heading out there right now," he said and he headed to the previous station clearing.

"Okay, now we can get back to climbing the mountain," Ali said and they kept moving forward until they arrived at the ninth station clearing.

"Something seems different than the last time I was here," Shaymin said, looking around.

"We're almost at the peak," Chikorita said, staying close to Ali, "We're bound to find out what the issue with the peak is if there is one," she added.

"Almost there," Ali muttered and they headed to the peak.

They finally made it through the final leg of the climb and arrived at the summit.

"What happened here?" Ali asked looking around at the filth.

"No, it can't be happening," said Shaymin, looking around.

"What's going on?" Chikorita asked.

"I can't believe that this happened since I was gone for so long!" Shaymin exclaimed, looking surprised.

"Looks like we lost that race," Team Frontier sighed, catching up with the intrepid trio.

"What happened?" they asked looking around.

"We love muck and grime," a number of voices chanted and this caught everyone's attention.

"We love dirt and grime," they chanted.

"Whose there?" Ali demanded getting into a battle position and a number of Grimer and a bunch of Muk appeared, surrounding both two sets of trios.

"A group of Grimer and Muk, this isn't your home, please leave," Shaymin requested.

"No, nooooooo, we like it here, its smelly and disgusting," one of the Grimer said.

"We scoff and cleanliness and drive it away," one of the Muk said.

"Looks like we have to fight," Chikorita said, following Ali's lead and got into a stance.

"Well then, bring it on!" Machoke said as the battle started with a cursed field that afflicted everyone with poison.

"Okay, first thing's first," Ali said getting into the air and staying there as much as he could so he jumped all the failed sludge bombs and countered with a number of his own Flamethrowers.

"Shaymin!" Ali called and she looked confused.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Why don't you use Seed Flare to weaken them," Ali suggested and she started cleaning the environment and it healed the poisoned status that everyone but Shaymin and Chikorita had.

"WHAT!" all the poison types exclaimed.

"How'd you like that?" Ali said as everyone did a victory pose.

"Have you come to your senses?" Shaymin asked the group.

"This is sooo our home, its grimy and smelly," one of the Muk said, gesturing around.

"That's because no one has been here in such a long time that the summit has lost its beauty," Shaymin explained and they all understood and left.

"I think one last Seed Flare should do it," Shaymin said, as she used the aforementioned attack and cleaned up the area and restored it to its former glory.

"Wow," Ali said looking at the awesome view.

"This is a really romantic sight," Chikorita said and Shaymin agreed.

"But hold on, how are we going to get back down?" Breloom asked.

"Let me try something," Ali said and he tried to become one with his inner monkey; needless to say that he failed miserably.

"What was that supposed to achieve?" Chikorita asked curiously.

"I wanted to try to use that move that I could use when we fought Dialga at Temporal Tower," Ali explained.

"I guess you can't use it here," Shaymin sighed and saw a flower.

"Hey you guys, I can fly you down!" Shaymin said as she changed forms and managed to fly everyone back to the village.

"That was awesome," Ali cheered.

"Ali, can I join your team?" Shaymin asked shyly.

"Ali, I'll race you to Treasure Town!" Chikorita yelled.

" Sorry Shaymin, maybe when we're not busy with our missions," Ali said with a smile as he took off after her.

"I guess that means I win," Ali said with a grin.

"I still say that the race was rigged," Chikorita grumbled.

"You had the head start on me!" Ali exclaimed as they arrived at Spinda's Café to talk about the adventures they had at Sky Peak.

They were there the entire night and finally went home an hour before dawn and promptly fell asleep.

What do you think? Read and Review. I want to hear what you have to say, you of course are not required to tell me anything.


	27. High Class Rescue & New Friends

**Not really much to say here but I hope you like it. Read and Review please.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters.**

Chapter 26

Ali and Chikorita woke up the next morning and decided to take some jobs at the guild. They headed there, found some hard jobs in Brine Cave and some other dungeons; they went to Treasure Town to go get the supplies they would need for the day. They were about to leave when Mr. Mime called them over and they complied, looking thoroughly confused about what was going on.

"Have you heard of the great explorer Scizor?" Mr. Mime asked.

"No, I don't think so," Chikorita said slowly.

"Well he was exploring a place to the east called Blizzard Island and he vanished ever since he went," Mr. Mime explained.

"Has anyone tried to find him?" Ali asked.

"Many have tried and all of them have failed to get very far," Mr. Mime replied.

"I see, so what happened?" Chikorita asked.

"Everyone gave up trying to find him because it was so difficult and half the Pokémon who went to find him were not suited for the cold conditions that of that region," Mr. Mime replied.

"Why was he there in the first place?" Ali asked curiously.

"It was because there was a rumor going around that there was a huge treasure there as well," Mr. Mime said.

"That sounds exciting!" Chikorita exclaimed.

"You've saved the world from the destruction of time right?" Mr. Mime asked curiously.

"Yeah, why do you ask?" Ali said looking interested.

"Maybe you could go try to find and rescue him," Mr. Mime suggested with a grin on his face.

"That would be an interesting experience," Ali muttered under his breath.

"Well I thought that I might want to share that story with you," Mr. Mime said as he headed over to Electivire's link shop to go talk to him.

"Scizor sounds like quite the explorer to have gone to Blizzard Island," Chikorita commented.

"He reminds me of Dusknoir," Ali said thoughtfully.

"You're right, but we don't know anything about Scizor so we can't really say anything about him until we meet him," Chikorita said.

"Are you suggesting that we go to Blizzard Island and attempt to find that treasure?" Ali asked.

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Chikorita said.

"Well I guess we'll have to stick closer together so that we won't freeze to death the second we walk inside," Ali suggested and Chikorita readily agreed with a slight blush on her face.

"So shall we get going?" Ali asked.

"Yeah, let's go!" Chikorita cheered, and they headed to Blizzard Island.

Lapras offered them a ride to the aforementioned island and then they waved as she left to go back to the beach.

"Thanks Lapras!" Ali yelled from the island and she smiled as she swam away.

"Ready?" Chikorita asked.

"I'm surprised you need to ask," Ali said with a smirk on his face.

"Well if that's the case, then let's get going Mr. I'm Ready for Anything," Chikorita said playfully and she moved closer to Ali.

"All right then, let's go!" Ali cheered and they were both moving at a break-neck pace, keen on finding that treasure and possibly rescuing a famous explorer that hasn't been seen in many years.

One thing that became immediately obvious is that there were many ice-types in this cavern and Chikorita was in a really bad position in this scenario because ice-type moves are strong against grass types like her.

"Ali, you can defeat the ice-types and I'll handle the water types," Chikorita suggested, having defeated some water types as they were passing through.

"Okay," Ali said with a shrug and knocked out a Snowrunt and Glalie with his Flamethrower attack.

"Wow, that was easy," Ali mumbled under his breath as they kept moving at a consistent pace as to not do something stupid.

"It's getting really cold in here," Chikorita complained as they kept moving further into the cavern.

"Here, let me change that for you," Ali offered as he concentrated for a few minutes and then his tail flame grew hotter.

"That's much better, thank you Ali," Chikorita said with a smile.

"Hey, no problem," Ali replied as they moved as close together as they possibly could.

"I think we're almost there," Chikorita said, pointing to a light that was not far from where they were standing.

"I'll race you," Ali said with a grin as he ran off.

"Hey, no fair," Chikorita protested as she ran off in hot pursuit and they were running as hard as they could and laughing like there was no tomorrow.

"Looks like I win," Ali said, grinning.

"That wasn't a fair race, you had a head start on me," Chikorita protested while laughing.

"What, you want to call it a draw?" Ali asked.

"Yeah, sure," Chikorita said.

"Well, let's keep moving," Ali said, pointing to the crevice in the ice.

"Not again," Chikorita grumbled.

"To be completely blunt about this, I don't really like it anymore than you do," Ali said with a sigh.

"Why is that?" Chikorita asked.

"Water types and the ice might melt rapidly because of the flame on my tail and we might get a flood," Ali said grimly.

"I personally doubt that you could make ice melt that quickly," Chikorita said thoughtfully.

"I don't know, but let's get going," Ali said and they headed for the next leg of their exploration of the area.

"I hate this," Chikorita said irritably, having slipped on the ice again.

"What's up?" Ali asked.

"I wish I wasn't a grass type right now," Chikorita said irritably.

"Now you know how I felt back in Northern Desert and Quicksand Cave," Ali said with a grin.

"Oh shut up," Chikorita snapped playfully, "At least I didn't have to wear a bottle on my tail to make sure the flame doesn't go out," she added with a smirk.

"Hey, well at least I don't slip on random chunks of ice every ten seconds," Ali countered and that made Chikorita stop.

"How far do you think we will have to go in this cave?" Chikorita asked as they kept walking.

"Who knows," Ali said with a sigh, "I just hope that it isn't too far," he added.

"I guess that makes two of us," Chikorita said.

"I want to get there faster," Ali suddenly declared.

"Okay, let's go," Chikorita said as they broke into a run and managed to get good traction on the ice.

They were running so fast that they just landed in a Monster house.

"Oh no," Chikorita said irritably as she swore under her breath.

"It's no use, we have to fight our way out," Ali said desperately.

They managed to defeat all the Pokémon in the pack except for one; it was a Glaceon and they both admitted that she had put up a good fight. They weren't surprised by her tactics but Chikorita wanted to take her on and Ali complied hesitantly.

"You're finished," Chikorita said, hitting Glaceon with a Magical Leaf attack and she fell to the ground, having been defeated.

"You have such strength, even when you were outnumbered and outmatched," Glaceon said.

"That's because we make an amazing team," Ali said proudly as he gave Chikorita a high five.

"This form of friendship that you have," Glaceon said, "I want to be a part of it," she declared.

"What are you trying to say?" Ali asked.

"I want to join your team," she replied hopefully.

"What do you think we should do?" Ali asked Chikorita, remembering the experiences that they had with Piplup and had no wish to repeat them again.

"I don't know, I guess we could have her aboard and she probably knows this place really well so why not," she said with a smile that Ali returned.

"Sure you can join," Ali said and Glaceon cheered and went over to join them.

The first thing that Ali and Chikorita did was that they healed Glaceon so that she could help them more than in her weakened state.

"Who are you and where are you from?" Glaceon asked her new teammates.

"I'm Ali, and this Chikorita," Ali said, introducing themselves.

"Hi, Glaceon," Chikorita said as though they had been best friends for years and it made her feel included, like she belonged.

"So what are you guys doing here in the first place?" Glaceon asked, looking at her new teammates.

"Well, we came here so we can find the famous explorer Scizor," Chikorita explained.

"I've heard of him!" Glaceon gasped.

"Really? Tell us what you know!" Ali exclaimed.

"I remember that he was famous, he came here supposedly looking for treasure and I met him once," Glaceon replied.

"What was he like?" Ali asked curiously.

"He was a nice guy, I met him when he saved me from an ambush and he with me for a few minutes but I learned quite a bit from him and that helped make me stronger," Glaceon said.

"We heard that he disappeared somewhere around here, do you have any clue as to why?" Ali asked her.

"Well as you go further into the cave, it does tend to get colder and he might have gotten frozen, I really don't know," Glaceon said sadly.

"I see, well I hope we find him," Ali said hopefully as they kept moving.

The trio made to the end of the cave and looked around to find that there was nothing there.

"Where is the famous explorer?" Chikorita asked, looking around.

"Do you think that this whole thing was merely a trick?" Glaceon asked, also looking around.

"I sure hope not," Ali replied nervously.

They suddenly felt a strong blizzard attack hit them head on and it restricted their vision but it stopped a few seconds later and they spotted a Froslass floating in front of them.

"Glaceon, what are you doing here?" Froslass asked coldly.

"That doesn't concern you," she replied just as coldly.

"Wait you two know each other?" Ali exclaimed.

"Yeah, she was the bully and all the Pokémon around here say that she is cruel," Glaceon explained.

"Time for me to live up to that reputation yet again," Froslass said with a cruel smirk on her face as they began to battle.

(13th Reflection Music starts to Play)

Glaceon started things off by using Quick Attack on Froslass and it went right through her!

"Silly Glaceon, have you forgotten that I'm a part ghost type?" she taunted while using Double Team.

"Well you're also part ice type!" Ali shouted as he fired a Flamethrower at her and it hit head on and she grunted in pain from the blow.

"Fools!" she yelled as she used water pulse on Ali and he jumped to reveal Chikorita who reflect the attack and it did no damage to anyone.

"So you make a good team, big deal," Froslass replied as she let loose a powerful Blizzard and this blinded the trio and Froslass seized this chance to hit Chikorita with an Ice Beam and Ali with Shadow Ball. Both attacks were direct hits and they were knocked into the air.

Glaceon looked terrified at this and she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw them both recover with ease and give off a smirk.

"Is that all you got?" Ali taunted with a smirk on his face as Froslass changed direction from Glaceon to Ali.

Glaceon inwardly thanked Ali for the distraction and started to charge her Shadow Ball.

Meanwhile, Ali was running around the field towards Chikorita who was encased in a block of ice and was also dodging Froslass's Ice Beam until he slipped on the ice and landed right in front of her.

"Looks like it's the end for you," Froslass said as she fired an Ice Beam.

"Better think again," Ali said as he got to his feet and sprinted away much faster than normal and went of to help Chikorita.

Ali found her again and start to melt the ice as quickly as he could while attempting not to hurt her in the process and after a few seconds of a powerful Flamethrower the ice was shattered and Chikorita was free.

"Thanks Ali," Chikorita muttered.

"No worries," he replied and he and Glaceon exchanged a glance and then nodded at each other.

Glaceon jumped Froslass's latest attempt at beating her to a pulp and release her Shadow Ball, hoping that it would do some damage at much to her relief it did a lot of damage and it stunned her.

Froslass was still moving fast and took this time that no one was looking to bite Chikorita with an Ice Fang and it froze a part of her back so Ali quickly countered by biting Froslass with his Fire Fang and then nipped Chikorita's frozen back with a much weaker one so it would thaw out.

"C'mon, give me a break already," Ali said irritably under his breath.

"Ali!" Glaceon shouted.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Let's finish this once and for all!" she declared boldly as they all moved closer together.

"Okay!" he shouted as they all started to spin in different directions: Ali vertically, Chikorita horizontally, and Glaceon diagonally and they all use a triple finish to hopefully finish Froslass for good.

They finished the triple finish to find that Froslass was down and she was unconscious and with another gust of Icy Wind, she was gone.

(13th Reflection stops playing)

"We did it!" Ali cheered when she vanished.

"Hooray!" Chikorita and Glaceon cheered in unison.

"Well, where's Scizor?" Ali asked, looking around.

As though to answer Ali's question, a gust of wind hit them briefly to reveal a Scizor encased in ice.

"I'll get him out," Ali volunteered as he started melting the ice while Chikorita and Glaceon watched.

"I think we should go help him," Chikorita suggested, as she headed over to help Ali who welcomed the help.

Glaceon thought about this for a second and decided to help out too. She managed to make large cracks in the ice using her Iron Tail.

"Ali, I think that you should either make your Flamethrower stronger or start hitting the ice with Iron Tail," Glaceon called and Ali merely shrugged but he did strengthen his Flamethrower so after a few minutes of thawing, the ice was broken.

"Where am I?" Scizor asked, looking around.

"Oh yes, I remember, I was looking for the treasure that was said to be around here and then that blasted Froslass attacked me and I was frozen," Scizor said in a British accent.

Scizor turned his attention to his rescuers who were merely watching him comprehend what was going on.

"I take it you three are the one's who rescued me?" he asked.

"Yes," Chikorita said.

"Mr. Scizor, do you remember me?" Glaceon asked, stepping forward.

He stared at her for a second and then all the memories from the past came back to him, "Yes I remember you, I think I rescued you from an ambush and trained with you for a little bit and then left," he replied.

"It's nice to be able to remember," Ali muttered under his breath but no one noticed, much to his relief.

"Let's go," Glaceon said.

"You guys go on ahead, I gotta do something," Ali said and they all stared at him for a second and Chikorita handed him an escape orb and they used one to leave the dungeon.

Ali tapped the ice caverns and a fissure appeared he walked right into it and he found the treasure that was hidden. It was all gold, silver, jewels of all kinds and he hastily stuffed in the Treasure Bag and then he used his escape orb to get out.

He landed at the crossroads where Chikorita and Glaceon were waiting for him along with Scizor.

"What did you need to do?" Chikorita asked.

"I'll tell you both later," Ali muttered to the two females.

"I'd like to thank you for rescuing me, I wish that there is someway I can repay you for your actions," Scizor said.

"It's not a problem," Ali reassured him.

"I do wish that I had something to give," Scizor muttered and remembered something as he asked Ali for his badge and put a mark on it.

"What's this?" Chikorita asked as she and Glaceon stared at the badge curiously and looked at Scizor.

"That is the secret rank, this is for exploration teams who have made some kind of amazing discovery and you did just that!" Scizor exclaimed.

"I'm not sure that I understand this but it sounds awesome," Glaceon said cheerfully.

"Farewell," Scizor said as he went to explore the new area that had changed in his absence.

"I think that was a productive day's work," Ali said nonchalantly.

"Yeah," Glaceon said, now staring at Ali.

"What is it?" Ali asked nervously.

"What was it that you were doing back there?" Glaceon asked as they went into the base.

"Okay, you know how Scizor said that there was a treasure at that cave?" he asked and the two females nodded.

"Well, I wanted to see if it was really true so I had a feeling in my heart that told me that the treasure was close," Ali said.

"So was it like a Dimensional Scream?" Chikorita asked.

"No, it was just a feeling that I had," Ali replied.

"So what happened," Glaceon asked, staring at Ali.

"Well, I tapped the ice wall and a fissure formed, I walked in and saw a massive trove of treasures," Ali said, "Here, I'll show you," Ali said as he pulled out a chest and opened it to reveal an assortment of precious objects that shone with a passion.

"I didn't think that it was real," Chikorita said, looking awed at the amazing find.

"I didn't think so either," Glaceon admitted, "I mean, I remember when my parents told me about it, I wasn't sure if it was true but now I know it is," Glaceon said, staring at the metals in front of them.

"I think that we should celebrate, Ali's find," Chikorita suggested.

"What do you think we should do?" Ali asked with a frown.

"Spinda's Café of course," Chikorita said cheerfully.

"What's that?" Glaceon asked, looking confused.

"You really don't know!" Ali asked her incredulously and she shook her head and he sighed.

"Well it's basically like a café, except that you hand over a berry, food item, gummi or something that is edible and this guy, Spinda will make a really good drink out of it," Ali said, finishing his explanation.

"I gotta try that!" Glaceon said as they ran to the café and Ali asked the others what they wanted; Chikorita wanted an Oran Berry and Glaceon asked for a Clear Gummi while Ali put in Sitrus Berry and Spinda had fun making the drinks and they left to go get a table and drink up.

"So what do you guys think?" Ali asked, looking from Chikorita to Glaceon and back again.

"I like it," Glaceon said and Chikorita nodded her head in approval and drank up.

"I'm going to rest up at the assembly," Glaceon said as she bade goodnight to her other teammates.

"That was fun," Chikorita said as they hopped into bed.

"I know, that was amazing," Ali said in agreement.

Meanwhile with Glaceon:

"I'm lucky to have met good friends like Chikorita and Ali," she muttered as she went to sleep as well.

**What did you guys think? Like it? Hate it? Got suggestions or constructive Criticism? I'd love to hear all your ideas so please read and review.**

**Until next Chapter of my story (whichever I feel like updating) Sora532 out.  
**


	28. Surround Sea and the Egg

**I had an idea for a new chapter for this story so I hope you guys read and review it and it would make me feel better about my writing skills because I've haven't been writing for very long and I'm still a beginner.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters. **

Chapter 27

Ali and Chikorita met up with Glaceon a few days later and did some more jobs and learned about the existence of new dungeons.

"This is awesome!" Ali cheered, reading the letter they got from the organization.

"What's awesome," Glaceon asked, looking at Ali curiously and he showed them both the letter that he had received.

"That's fantastic," Chikorita cheered.

"Well, we better get going," said Ali.

"What do you mean?" Glaceon asked.

"I think that we would need at least three Pokémon in our team for this exploration," Chikorita said thoughtfully and Glaceon caught on right away.

"Thanks you two," Glaceon said with a smile.

"Sure, now let's go," Ali said as they left their base to go to the dungeon.

"Hi you guys!" Sunflora called over to the trio as they were going through Treasure Town.

"Hi Sunflora, how are you?" Chikorita asked as they walked over to her.

Chikorita immediately wished that she had not asked because Sunflora went into a rant about a new dungeon that had some sort of treasure and how it was not accessible for years and so it was amazing that there is an opening now.

"That's sounds really cool," Ali said, looking interested.

"I know," Sunflora said.

"What is it called?" Ali asked.

"Surround Sea," she replied.

"Well, see you later," Glaceon called and Sunflora smiled and nodded.

"That was interesting," Ali said, as they walked to the crossroads.

"That's got me thinking," Chikorita said and Ali and Glaceon exchanged a glance and looked at her curiously.

"What is it that you have in mind?" Glaceon asked curiously.

"Why don't we check out this new dungeon tomorrow, I want to check out Surround Sea today," Chikorita suggested.

Ali and Glaceon looked surprised at this bold suggestion and they sat down to talk about it.

"Well, what do we know about both dungeons?" Glaceon asked.

"Well, we know that the new dungeon called Oblivion Castle and that it has a large amount of treasure in there," Chikorita said.

"What about the latter option?" Glaceon asked.

"Well, we know that Surround Sea isn't very far from here and it would probably be hard to get down further and try to get the treasure, we would probably need a Pokémon that can use Dive," Ali said thoughtfully.

"What about Lapras, can't she use Dive?" Chikorita asked.

"Let's go ask?" Glaceon suggested and they headed to the beach.

"Hi Lapras!" Ali said, grinning at the blue creature.

"Hi Ali, Chikorita, and Glaceon," she said with a smile.

"You don't happen to know the move Dive, do you?" Chikorita asked curiously.

"I do," she said with a smile, "Why do you ask?" she added curiously.

"We were wondering if you could take us to Surround Sea?" Chikorita asked.

"Sure, but may I join you on that journey because I've always wanted to go there?" she asked.

"Of course!" Ali cheered and Lapras smiled.

"Well, let's going," Glaceon suggested as Lapras moved closer to the shore line so that they could get on.

"Wait, Lapras," Ali said as they started to head for their destination.

"What is it?" she asked.

"Well, since I'm a fire type, how will I manage underwater?" Ali asked.

"You still have the yellow circuit lines on you, right?" Lapras asked.

Ali looked at himself and sure enough he still had the yellow circuit lines on him as well as the yellow aura on his hands.

"So what's so special about them?" Ali asked.

"Those powers Celebi gave you will protect you from the water extinguishing your flame," Lapras explained.

"How do you know this?" Glaceon asked.

"Celebi told me herself," Lapras said with a grin on her face.

"Okay then, I think we should get moving, I mean I want to start exploring this area really quick," Ali said excitedly.

"Right," Lapras said and began to swim faster and they finally made it to Surround Sea.

"Let's go!" Chikorita yelled as she and Glaceon dived in with Lapras and Ali following them.

"Wow," Ali said as he swam deeper and deeper into the dungeon.

"This is so cool," Glaceon said as she swam past.

"It is seeing the world from a completely different point of view: from the view of a water type," Lapras said, looking amused at the trio's actions.

"That makes complete sense," Chikorita said, nodding as they kept swimming.

"I like this point of view," Glaceon said thoughtfully.

"It is pretty awesome," Lapras said with a smile.

"Uh oh," Ali said as he was almost attack by a group of water types but he dodged at the last second so he was safe.

Chikorita quickly helped Ali with her Razor Leaf and that scared them away.

"Thanks Chikorita," Ali said gratefully.

"I think that we should proceed with more caution," Glaceon suggested, having noticed the battle that took place moments before.

"You're probably right about that," Chikorita said with a small chuckle.

"So where is this treasure that you were talking about before?" Ali asked Chikorita who frowned.

"I don't know, I think that it might be somewhere close by but I don't really know anymore," Chikorita sighed.

"What's that?" Glaceon asked suddenly, pointing at some random shiny object that caught everyone's attention.

"I don't know but it seems interesting so I'll go check," Ali said as he swam deeper and tried to get a better look at it and much to his surprise, there were three things there: two chests and an egg.

"What's this?" Ali muttered to himself as he looked at the egg.

"So Ali, did you find anything?" Chikorita asked.

"Yeah, you should come and see for yourself," he said, calling them over and they came over to see what he had found.

"So you found an egg and some chests," Glaceon said, looking at them curiously.

"Let's see what they contain," Lapras suggested and Ali opened them both to find a large sack of money in the first chest and the second one contained a Reviver Seed.

"That was a pretty good find," Ali said, looking at what they had: a large sack of money that Glaceon was holding, the Reviver Seed, which Chikorita had put in the Treasure Bag and the wonder egg that Ali was holding.

"We should celebrate this," Glaceon suggested.

"Nah, it really wasn't that important," Ali reasoned with her.

"Why not?" Chikorita said.

"I mean, we didn't really discover anything, I mean all we did was find a wonder egg," Ali said thoughtfully.

"I still stay that we should go to Spinda's café," Chikorita persisted.

"Okay," Ali said, giving in to her friend's request.

"Lapras, do you want something too?" Glaceon asked.

"Would you mind bringing me a drink with a blue gummi in it?" she asked and they nodded.

"Let's go!" Ali cheered and they went off to go to the café and get the drinks that they wanted.

Ali got a Cheri Juice, Chikorita got an Apple Juice, Glaceon got a Clear Shake, and Ali got a Blue Shake for Lapras.

"That was amazing!" Chikorita cheered.

"I'm going to go give Lapras her drink, wait for me here," Ali said as he left the café to give Lapras her drink and he came five minutes later and was keen on starting a conversation with them so he started to talk about the egg.

"So do either of you know how to take care of an egg?" Ali asked his friends and they shook their heads in disappointment.

"We'll learn," Glaceon said kindly to Ali.

"I hope so," Chikorita said, staring at the egg that was in Ali's arms.

"Why don't we head back to the base so we can rest up," Ali suggested.

"But first things first," Chikorita said, smiling slightly at him.

"What's that?" Glaceon asked as she and Ali looked at her intently.

"Shouldn't we tell Sunflora what we found?" Chikorita asked.

"We can tell her along with the rest of the guild tomorrow," Ali assured her, "Besides, I'm pretty sure we are all pretty tired after that exploration," he added as an afterthought.

"Yeah, Ali's right, Chikorita," Glaceon said, nodding her agreement at Ali's statement.

"Okay, we'll go rest," Chikorita said as she was starting to yawn.

"Let's head back," Ali said and they ran back to their base so they could discuss what they were going to do with the egg.

"Okay," Chikorita said and they ran back to the base and set up two beds: one for the egg and the other for Glaceon.

"Right so what do we need to do?" Ali asked.

"I've done this a few time before and I think you just have to hold close and make sure it doesn't get cold.

"Right so the egg should stay away from me," Glaceon said.

"I think that Ali should hold on to the egg," Chikorita suggested.

"Me?" Ali asked, pointing at himself.

"Yeah," Chikorita said.

"Why me?" Ali asked.

"I would probably freeze the egg if it gets close, seeing as I am an Ice-type," Glaceon said, smiling slightly.

"I can't do it either because it wouldn't get warm for a while, even if I cuddled with it," Chikorita said, also smiling slightly at the predicament.

"I guess I have no choice," Ali sighed as he held the egg close to him.

"See you two in the morning," Ali muttered as the other two went to their respective beds and they all went to sleep…

**So what do you guys think? I really wasn't proud of this chapter but if you disagree then that's your call.**


	29. Manaphy and Illness

**Hi guys, I'm sorry I've been gone for so long. I've been writing Truth or Dare Fanfiction so I'm gonna continue with this one because I feel really guilty about it so here is chapter twenty eight.**

**Disclaimer: I'm sure you know by now that I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters!!!!!**

Chapter 28

Ali, Chikorita, and Glaceon woke up the next morning to find that the egg was still in Ali's arms.

"When will this egg hatch?" Ali asked.

"Well, it can't be much longer, can it?" Glaceon asked, looking at the egg.

"I don't think so," Chikorita said, also eying the egg with interest.

Suddenly the egg was enveloped in bright light and they all covered their eyes and a few seconds later, a blue being stood before them.

They all had to admit it looked really cute; it had two long antennae extending from atop its head. At the end of these antennae are round objects that resemble a ball. Its eyes are large and yellow and its head is quite large in proportion to its small body. It has two yellow circles that resemble eyelashes extending up from the eyes.

"Mana?" It said curiously, looking at the trio.

"Who is that?" Ali asked curiously, looking at the newborn.

"Manaphy," it cried.

"I guess that must be its name," Glaceon said as Chikorita approached the baby Pokemon.

"Aaaaaww! He's soooooooo CUTE!!" Chikorita exclaimed.

Ali and Glaceon sighed as they dragged their grass type friend to the guild and ask Chatot about this Pokémon.

"Chatot, what can you tell us about this Pokémon?" Ali asked.

"I hardly know anything about him except that they live in the sea and they go back to where they were born," Chatot said and Manaphy started to cry.

"WAAAAHHH," he cried.

"What should we do Chatot?" Ali asked.

"I would say that he is hungry," Chatot concluded.

"What should we feed him?" Chikorita asked.

"Since he's a water type, why not a blue gummi or two?" Glaceon suggested and Chatot nodded his approval.

The trio made to leave but Manaphy started crying again.

"Oh no! Don't cry, little Manaphy! Don't cry! Mama's here!" Chikorita cried, trying to soothe the baby and it quieted down a bit.

"I guess that he wants Chikorita to stay," Ali said, looking amused.

"I guess so," Chikorita sighed as she cuddled with the baby Pokémon, "Get the food from storage," she said to Ali.

"Hey, don't sweat it, me and Glaceon got this covered," Ali said and he and Glaceon left the guild to find some Blue Gummis.

"I guess it was a good thing that you had all of those gummis in storage all this time, Ali," Glaceon said to Ali.

"Yeah, Chikorita and I have been through so many adventures and found so much stuff that I couldn't tell you all that we've been through," Ali said, remembering the times they shared together.

"You're really lucky," Glaceon said as they walked back to the guild.

"What makes you say that?" Ali asked her.

"I've lived alone ever since I was born an Eevee and was abandoned by my parents," she explains and tears form in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Ali said, patting her back.

"It's okay, I mean you and Chikorita are my first friends and were kind enough to help me," Glaceon said.

"Sure, I always like making new friends," Ali said as they entered the guild with the gummis in hand.

"You guys took your time," Chikorita said.

"Yeah, finding the gummis were a little harder that I thought they would be," Ali said, scratching his head looking slightly embarrassed.

"Chikorita, can I feed Manaphy?" Glaceon asked hopefully.

"I want to do it first," Chikorita said and Glaceon nodded as Ali handed them both a Blue Gummi.

Chikorita fed Manaphy a gummi and he nibbled on it curiously and he liked it and he gobbled the rest of it up.

"Goomi Goomi," Manaphy cheered, pointing to the one Glaceon had on her hand.

"You want another one?" Glaceon asked as she walked over and he nodded and she sat down and fed him the gummi.

"Chatot can we keep him?" Glaceon and Chikorita asked in unison.

"I'm not sure that is such a good idea," Ali said grimly.

"Ali is right in this case," Chatot said.

"Why?" Both females asked.

"Manaphy is born and raised in the sea; this environment is unlike the sea in everyway, there is no telling what could happen if we raise him here," Chatot said.

Despite the new information, Chikorita and Glaceon keep on begging until Ali and Chatot finally give in to their request.

"YAAAAY! THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU---," Chikorita and Glaceon cheered.

"Why do I have a feeling that this will end badly?" Ali muttered to himself as his teammates dragged him back to their base and started to raise the newborn.

Over the next few days, all three of them taught Manaphy a bunch of new words such as Mama, Papa, Chikorita, Glaceon, Ali, as well as the ABC's.

"If we're going to keep him, I think we should at least do SOMETHING other than just hang around here," Ali said.

"Let's go to the beach and play there," Glaceon suggested and everyone readily agreed to this idea so they all headed to the beach to play.

The quartet came to the beach and either swam in the water or built something in the sand.

"Ali, if Manaphy is our child then wouldn't that make us parents?" Chikorita asked, turning to Ali.

"I think so, I'm not ready for that kind of commitment yet," Ali said nervously.

"Oh come on, you've confessed your feelings for me, so why not?" Chikorita demanded.

"We haven't been together long enough to be a true couple," Ali retaliated.

"Yeah, you're right," Chikorita said, sighing in defeat.

"I still love you though," Ali said, holding her close.

"Thanks Ali," Chikorita said, cuddling with him.

Glaceon saw all of this happen while she was swimming with Manaphy and hoped that they wouldn't forget about her while they were in their relationship.

"Hi Glaceon," Ali said, waving from their spot on the beach.

"I think Manaphy and I have had enough of a swim for today," Glaceon said, picking up Manaphy and brought him back to the sand.

They spent the rest of the time watching the sunset and admired its beauty.

"Sitting here like this, reminds me of how I met you both," Ali said, reminiscing about the past.

"What do you mean?" Chikorita asked curiously.

"I mean like when we met for the first time, when we became friends right away," Ali explained.

"When you put it that way, it all makes sense," Chikorita said, hugging Ali tightly.

"You two have a very romantic relationship going on," Glaceon said, smiling slightly at what they were doing.

"Yeah, it is pretty awesome," Ali said smiling.

"I wish I had that kind of relationship," Glaceon muttered look at the sea with a certain longing.

"Maybe you will have a relationship with someone," Chikorita said, smiling at Glaceon while holding Ali close in a protective manner.

"I hope so," Glaceon said.

"I think we should head back, it's getting pretty late," Ali said, pointing to the sunset.

"Ali's right," Glaceon said, turning her attention to the sunset as well.

"Let's head back," Ali said, taking Manaphy's fin and led the way back to their base.

Everyone promptly fell asleep after they had come back to the base. Everyone was asleep except for Manaphy, he was staring at the sea with a sort of longing that he knew that that was where he truly belonged.

The next morning the trio woke up to find that Manaphy is gone.

"Where'd you go?" Glaceon asked, looking around with worry on her face.

"Let's look through Treasure Town and the guild, maybe he's there," Ali suggested, also worried about the young Pokemon.

"Okay then, we'd better hurry," Glaceon said as they all ran out the door and agreed to split up to find him.

**With Chikorita:**

"Ah Team Drive," Chatot said cheerfully when he saw Chikorita come to the guild.

"Hi Chatot," Chikorita said briskly looking around for where Manaphy might be.

"Where's Manaphy, I was hoping to greet the fellow," Chatot asked curiously.

"We can't find him!" Chikorita cried.

"W-WHAT!" Chatot shouted, looking surprised.

"We'll look for him here," Chatot said and Chikorita nodded her gratitude while she continued to look.

**With Glaceon:**

Glaceon was asking around Treasure Town, hoping that one of them may have seen Manaphy pass through here.

"I'm sorry dear," Kangaskhan said apologetically when Glaceon asked.

"It's okay, thanks for the help," Glaceon said, sighing in defeat as she began to ask other residents if they had seen him anywhere around Treasure Town.

"I sure hope Ali and Chikorita have better luck then I did," Glaceon muttered as she began looking for more spots as to where he could be hiding.

**With Ali:**

"Where's Manaphy," Ali muttered, heading towards the beach.

Ali started to look around until he turned his attention to the sea. A few minutes later he saw Manaphy staring at the sea.

"Manaphy, I finally found you!" Ali cried as he ran towards the young Pokemon.

When Ali was a few feet away from him, Manaphy collapsed!

"Manaphy, what's wrong?" Ali asked desperately. He then proceeded to feel his forhead, which was burning up.

"Whoa, that's hot," Ali commented, shaking his hand vigorously to make the pain stop.

"I'd better get you to the guild and to Chatot, maybe he can help," Ali muttered as he picked Manaphy up and put him in a piggy back and took him to the guild.

**With everyone else:**

"Did you find him?" Glaceon asked.

"I tried and the whole guild tried but with no success," Chikorita replied with dismay.

"I sure hope Ali found him," Loudred said.

"I hope so too," Chikorita said.

As though on cue, Ali burst into the room with Manaphy in hand.

"Ali, what's up?" Glaceon said, running over to him.

"I found him," Ali said, gasping for air "He's really sick," he added grimly.

"Hmmm, I think that it is because of the environment that he lives in is very unlike the sea so it would make sense that he would get sick," Chatot said.

"I want to know how we can cure him," Chikorita said desperately.

"Well we can try to Phione Dew, maybe that will work," Chatot said slowly.

"Okay, now where is it?" Glaceon asked.

"There is a rumor that the Phione live in Miracle Sea," Chatot said.

"Let's go!" Ali shouted.

"Ali, shouldn't one of us stay behind to take care of Manaphy?" Chikorita asked.

"I guess so," Ali said.

"No need, I'll take care of Manaphy, you go ahead and get that dew," Chatot said briskly.

"Right," they all said in unison and headed for Miracle sea with haste.

It became immediately obvious that Miracle sea was just like Surround Sea except slightly easier to travel.

When Pokemon attacked them, they would take them out in one hit saying that they didn't have time to mess around with them right now!

They made it to the deepest part of Miracle sea and found the Phione gathered around, doing something.

"What's going on?" Ali asked, looking at the Phione.

Suddenly Gyarados appears and demands for all the Phione Dew that they have.

"Hey you, what are you staring at?" Gyarados demanded, staring at the trio.

"We want that Phione Dew," Glaceon said angrily.

"You're a million years too early to mess with me," Gyarados said coldly.

"You're finished," Ali said and they began to fight it out.

Gyarados was fast so he started with a series of Hydro Pumps in hopes of defeating the trio.

Unfortunately, it failed because they just jumped and Glaceon froze the Hydro Pump and Gyarados's mouth so he couldn't do a thing.

"This is it," Ali said as he ran up the icy Hydro Pump but Gyarados broke the ice and slammed Ali into the water.

Chikorita relaliated with a sleep seed and then a combo of Magical Leaf, finishing with Energy Ball.

Ali managed to recover and Glaceon landed a direct hit with her Shadow Ball and that stunned him and Ali took this opportunity to combo Gyarados with a combo of Iron Tails and Fire Fangs and finished with a Flamethrower, which to everyone's surprise, finished him off.

"Wow, that was interesting," Chikorita commented.

"Yay, you've saved us all," one of the Phione said to the trio.

"It was no trouble," Ali said with a grin.

"Take this," Phione said, handing them the dew and transported them back to the guild.

**At the guild:**

"Chatot we got it!" Ali gasped as they burst into the guild.

"Good, now feed it to Manaphy," Chatot exclaimed as Ali fed Manaphy the Phione Dew.

Manaphy was enveloped in light and he was okay again.

A few days after the event, Chatot told the trio that Manaphy was to go back to the sea.

"Yeah we know," Ali sighed when Chatot told him.

"We should head to the beach, so Manaphy can go back," Glaceon said.

"Yeah, you're right," Chikorita said sadly as they walked out the base with heavy heart.

They arrived at the beach with Manaphy, Chatot and Walrein already there.

"You promise to take good care of Manaphy?" Chikorita said to Walrein.

"Aye, I've heard everything I need to know from yer guildmaster," Walrein said to the trio.

"Manaphy, I want you to be a good boy for Mr. Walrein okay?" Glaceon said with a sad face.

"Mama, Glaceon, Ali?" Manaphy asked, looking confused.

Chatot realizes that prolonging this will only make it worse and asks Walrein to get going.

"Aye, we're going Manaphy," Walrein announced as he dragged Manaphy to the sea.

"Mama, Glaceon, Ali, NOOOOO!" Manaphy cried.

"G-Good bye, M-M-Manaphy!" Glaceon and Chikorita cried in unison.

"It's okay Chikorita, Glaceon, it will be alright," Ali said, patting them on the back.

Glaceon and Chikorita couldn't hold it back anymore and they burst into tears as they left to go home. Neither of the females got any sleep that night.

The next morning, they all look depressed as they looked at Manaphy's bed and the females burst into tears again and Ali gave them both a hug to make them feel better.

"I don't think that Manaphy would like to see you sad," Ali said to them.

"I hope he is okay out there," Glaceon said.

"I do too," Chikorita said.

"I know he'll be fine, I think that we will meet again," Ali said.

"Really?" Chikorita asked hopefully.

"I know it," Ali said firmly.

"So you two gonna be okay?" Ali asked.

"I think so, in a few days at least, I know Manaphy wouldn't want to see us sad, but I can't bring myself to feel better yet," Chikorita said.

"When Grovyle said that it is ten times harder to say goodbye than to say hello, now I know what he met," Ali said.

"First Grovyle, then Celebi, and now Manaphy, saying goodbye was really hard for me but that doesn't change the fact that I am glad that I met them," Ali said.

"I hear you," Chikorita said as she embraced Ali for comfort.

They stare out at the ocean for a few minutes and with newfound wisdom and a more powerful resolve, they get out of bed and face a new day full of success and adventure and they left the base to get going. Several weeks later, one night in Treeshround Forest, a dark figure was ranting about his failures.

"Curse you Ali and Chikorita, CURSE YOU! I failed to destroy time and it was all because of YOU, Grovyle and that fool Celebi," it said angrily.

The figure looks around for a moment to make sure that it was alone and then it grinned an evil grin.

"You're very existance could prove an asset for me and my future plans as the master of all things evil destroy...space!" it said, laughing evilly.

**What do you think. Are you mad that My ToD fic is on hold. This story is almost done so it won't be on hold much longer. Read and Review this story, it will make me want to update faster and finish faster so I can turn my attention back to the ToD story so read and Review**


	30. A New Threat Rises

**Hi guys, I am back with another chapter of this story. I am having a lot of fun writing it and was pleased with the feedback I got throughout the story and I think that this has shaped me into a better writer and hopefully I can write better stories in the future.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any of the characters, just the things that don't happen in the games.**

Chapter 29

Ali, Chikorita, and Glaceon were sleeping in their beds and Ali was thrashing around because of a dream he was having.

**Dream:**

"Where am I?" Ali asked, looking around.

"You are in a dream," a voice said.

"Who's there?" Ali demanded, looking around, trying to find the source of the voice a suddenly a figure appeared.

"I am Cresselia, you're existence is going to drive the world into a lightless oblivion," she said, her voice echoing slightly.

"I don't get it, how is that my fault?" Ali demanded.

"You were a human who came from the future, of course. You are distorting the fabric of space simply because you don't belong to this world. And if this distortion were to expand…it would destroy the world. YOU…MUST…VANISH!" She shouted.

"NOOOO! I can't believe this is happening to me!" Ali cried.

"Believe it, the world is going to end unless you disappear," she said coldly as the dream ended and Ali woke up.

Chikorita was nudging his head with hers, trying to wake him up. Glaceon also is trying to wake him up by prodding him in the side with her paws.

"Ali, wake up!" Chikorita said, desperately and much to her relief he does. Ali was also gratefully to be spared from that nightmare.

"Thanks you guys for waking me up," Ali said gratefully to the duo.

"Sure, we can't do rescues unless we are together," Chikorita said and Ali nodded his agreement.

"So I guess that we're just going to take more jobs and hopefully get our rank higher?" Ali asked with his hands behind his head as they walked through Treasure Town.

"Team Drive!" A voice called and the trio looked around for the source and saw Bidoof running towards them with a worried expression on his face and a package in hand.

"Bidoof what's up?" Ali asked, noting the worried expression on Bidoof's face.

"Okay, first, Chatot wanted me to give this to you," he said, handing him the parcel.

"What is it?" Ali asked, taking the parcel from Bidoof and opened it to reveal a new badge, a Super Rank badge and a few pieces of armor for Glaceon.

"Whoa," Ali said as he took the badge and he and Chikorita stared at it. It had the new colored symbol and it also had the secret rank mark on the back as well as the trio's faces on parts of the badge.

Glaceon was looking at her new armor: small shoulder guards, a Ribbon, and a Dodge Scarf. Glaceon also had eaten quite a few Clear Gummis up to this point and she was pretty smart herself.

"Anyway, what's the second thing?" Ali asked, turning his attention to Bidoof.

"Azurill has been having a nightmare and he won't wake up," Bidoof said, looking worried.

Ali and Chikorita looked at each other and nodded as the trio quickly followed Bidoof back to the guild and led them to their old room and saw that everyone else was already there and Azurill was sleeping and thrashing, moaning as though in pain.

"No, don't hurt them," he muttered as he thrashed in his sleep and a few seconds later, he started crying.

"We can't feed him berries either," Chimecho said as Ali opened his mouth to make a suggestion and he promptly closed again.

"Uh, if we can't make the nightmare go away, why don't we try to see what kind of nightmare he's having?" Bidoof suggested and everyone stared at him.

"WHAT?!" everyone said, looking at Bidoof.

"Right, that's a wonderful idea," Loudred said sarcastically, "How are we supposed to DO that?" Loudred demanded.

"Actually, that might be possible," Chatot said thoughtfully and everyone merely stared at him, thinking that he had finally gone insane.

"Really? How?" Glaceon asked, looking at Chatot curiously and with insanity.

"Ali and Chikorita have defeated this Pokémon in a battle and was arrested afterwards," Chatot said in a singsong voice.

Ali and Chikorita strained their memories and finally remembered the first outlaw that they ever fought: Hypno.

"So Hypno can see into dreams?" Chikorita asked.

"Yes, but you are going to have to find out where he is," Chatot said.

"I'm confused, who's this Hypno guy?" Glaceon asked and Ali sighed and started to explain.

"He was the very first outlaw that Chikorita and I caught when we were first starting out as an exploration team," Ali explained.

"So Magnemite, do you know what happened to him? Is he still in your custody?" Chikorita asked.

"No, he told us that he was going to train his mind and soul in the ways of self discipline and so he said that he was going to Mt Travail," Magnemite said.

"Do you think he was telling the truth?" Croagunk asked curiously.

"That hardly matters now, all we can do is track him down and hopefully, he'll help us," Sunflora said.

"We'll do it," Ali said and Glaceon and Chikorita nodded.

"Alright then, we'll leave it to you," Wigglytuff said as everyone left the room.

"Do you guys feel forced into coming with me to go to Mt Travail?" Ali asked.

"No," they both replied in unison.

"Alright then, let's go," Ali said and they left the guild so they could go to Mt Travail.

It was a little far from the guild but the trio managed it relatively easily and they had made it fairly quickly. Of course, the incentive that this place held was also helped them get motivated and do the task that much more quickly.

They finally arrived at the mountain and took a brief break because they were running to get to the mountain so they could find Hypno and hopefully get him to help us.

"How did you find out that Hypno was first an outlaw?" Glaceon asked suddenly as they climbed up the mountain.

Ali and Chikorita exchanged a glance at each other and nodded, agreeing to tell Glaceon the story.

"Well, here's what happened," Chikorita explained.

**Flashback**

_Marill and Azurill came to Kecleon Market after Team Drive had finished buying what they needed for their first outlaw mission._

_"Could we buy an apple," they asked. They bought the apple and then ran back saying that they didn't ask for two but the Kecleon Bros explained that one was for their mother and the other was for them to enjoy. They thanked them and left saying that they had to go look for a precious item._

_"Well we better get back," Ali said hands behind his head and handed Chikorita the treasure bag._

_"Yeah," she said and as they went back they noticed those two Pokemon that they met before talking to another one that Ali was able to identify as a Hypno, and a powerful looking one at that, but he was talking to the bros nodding in sympathy and offered his help. They both nodded eagerly at this and he waved them goodbye and accidentally knocked into Ali._

_"That was really nice of him to do that," said Chikorita smiling at the scene as Ali clutched his head and heard a voice that yelled, "Help Me," and then he saw a vision of Hypno attempting to harm him._

_"What just happened," Ali thought to himself. "Hey Chikorita, did you hear any screaming?" he asked her hoping she'd say yes._

_"No I didn't, why do you ask," Chikorita asked. _

_"Because I thought heard that little Azurill scream and then I saw him being bullied by that Hypno," he said looking somewhat frustrated._

_"It must have been a daydream," Chikorita said clearly worried about me. _

_"Was it just a daydream or was it real, I won't get anywhere if I keep thinking about this," Ali thought to himself. _

_"And besides," she added, "He looked like a nice Pokemon to me," she finished. _

_"Yeah you're right," he agreed._

_"Come on, we better head back," Chikorita said._

_"Right," Ali agreed and they headed back to the guild.__They made their way back to the Outlaw notice board and just when the panels revolved and the jobs vanished only to be replaced with new jobs, at this Chikorita tensed._

_"Ali, look at the board at the top right," she said looking grim. Ali did so and looked shocked at what he saw, Hypno with a bounty on his head. They dashed out of the guild and saw Marill at the crossroads._

_"Marill, what's wrong," Charmander said looking worried. Marill recounted the story of he and brother had split up Hypno and Azurill looking in the mountains and Marill looking in treasure town and at the beach._

_"C'mon," Ali yelled to Chikorita as he headed for the Mt. Bristle so they could defeat Hypno._

_"Ok," Chikorita nodded bravely._

_They scaled Mt. Bristle pretty easily and defeated the enemy Pokemon with ease and got some valuable experience. Ali learned Iron Tail and Chikorita learned Magical Leaf as they proceeded to defeat Hypno._

_"Whew, we made it to the top," Chikorita huffed looking somewhat tired._

_"Hmph, I should have know you'd try to stop me," Hypno said from behind them._

_The duo turned around and saw to their horror the outlaw was much more powerful than they had anticipated._

**End of Flashback**

"And that's what happened," Chikorita said, finishing the story.

"That's really cool," Glaceon said, looking impressed.

"It's impressive when we succeeded but it was really painful when we had to fight him to try to get him to come to justice," Ali said, rubbing his head as they kept climbing.

"Why's that?" Glaceon asked curiously.

"He was a powerful psychic type and it took a lot of strength and teamwork to bring him down and we were still rookies at the time and we had yet to get any real experience in combat," Ali explained.

"Wow, we've been talking about Hypno and now we are really close to the summit of the mountain and that's where he is supposed to be," Chikorita said, surprised at how high they had climbed to get to this point.

A few minutes later, they had finally reached the summit and looked around to find that Hypno was meditating not far from where they were standing so they approached him with caution.

"Hypno?" Ali asked looking at him.

"Team Drive!" he said looking scared, "I've been doing self discipline here and I kept my nose clean!" he said, looking clearly frightened.

"Hypno, relax, we're not here to arrest you," Chikorita said.

"Thank Arcues, well what DO you want from me?" he asked, looking thoroughly relieved.

"We need you help with something," Ali said briskly.

"What is it?" Hypno asked.

"Remember that Azurill from way back when you were still an outlaw?" Ali asked and Hypno nodded.

"Well, we need you to see into his dream and hopefully help us get rid of it, so how 'bout it, think you will be able to help us out?" Ali asked hopefully.

"I feel bad about what I did to that poor Azurill way back so I don't know if this will make up for it but I hope I can be of some assistance," Hypno said as he approached the trio.

"Great, let's go," Ali said as he made to go back but Hypno wasn't following them.

"What's up?" Chikorita asked.

"Who's she?" Hypno asked, pointing at Glaceon.

"She's Glaceon," Chikorita said.

"Hi there," she nervously, afraid he might attack them again.

"Alright, we wasting time standing here, we gotta get back to the guild," Ali said.

"Right let's go," Hypno said as they ran back to the guild.

The quartet ran back to the guild and Hypno quickly began working on how to go into dreams and if it was possible for people to go into dreams in the first place.

After about an hour of work, Hypno called Team Drive back into the room to tell them trio that it was possible for Pokémon to enter dreams and that they are going to go in to Azurill's nightmare and find out what is going on.

"I only want Ali and Chikorita going into this dream," Hypno added.

"What, Why?" Glaceon demanded angrily.

"1) Azurill know Ali and Chikorita pretty well and trusts them both 2) I simply do not have enough power to send all three of you in and 3) even if I did, things would get pretty complicated in there," Hypno explained to an angry Glaceon.

"Aww man, this stinks," Glaceon said angrily as Ali and Chikorita approached Hypno.

"I have a bad feeling about this dream so do it quickly," Hypno said, "Sorry I couldn't do more to help," he added sadly.

"Its fine, sending us in is good enough," Chikorita said as he teleported them.

"This feels really wrong," Ali said, looking around as he saw the nightmare that they were in at the moment.

"I don't like it either," Chikorita said, also looking around at the area.

"Well let's go," Ali said as they proceeded into the nightmare.

"This is the most bizarre exploration that I have ever been on," Chikorita said nervously as she moved closer to Ali.

"I agree," Ali said and the duo quickened their pace, keen on getting out of this crazy place as quick as possible.

They finally reached the end of the exploration and looked around and in a flash of light, Cresselia stood before them.

"Cresselia?" Ali asked, looking at the creature before him.

"You know her too?" Chikorita asked, looking at Ali.

"Yeah," Ali said.

"I knew it…We **were** both having the same dreams! Cresselia, if space is distorted, why would the world be destroyed?" Chikorita asked, turning to Cresselia.

"If the distortion expands, so will the power of darkness. Eventually, the world will be enveloped in a nightmare much like this one. For now, only Azurill is affected. But soon, every single Pokémon in the world will become drawn in and trapped, never to awaken again, even legendary Pokemon will sink into this nightmare, doomed to be there for the rest of their lives," Cresselia said coldly.

"Never…to be awakened…again?" Chikorita asked apprehensively.

"How do we stop it?" Ali asked apprehensively.

"There is but one way and that is for both of you to VANISH!" she said, shouting the last word as starts to attack them but right as she does so, Glaceon and Hypno appear and Cresselia vanishes.

"Perfect timing," Ali said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Why? What happened?" Glaceon asked, looking at Ali with suspicion.

"We were almost attacked but you guys coming here must have scared them off," Chikorita said thoughtfully.

"Okay, let's get out of here," Glaceon said, moving closer to Ali.

"Right," Hypno said and he got them out of there.

**Back at the guild:**

"Find anything?" Chatot asked the duo.

"We met Cresselia," Ali said.

"What did she say?" Chatot asked and Chikorita recounted everything that Cresselia told them about what was going on with Azurill.

"Chatot, what do you know about Cresselia?" Glaceon asked curiously.

"All I know about her is that she only appears on nights of quarter moons and can heal others' emotional scars. She can also banish darkness and it's various scars," Chatot said, straining his memories for information.

"She didn't seem very nice when we met her," Ali said and Chikorita nodded in agreement.

"So did Cresselia say anything about how the distortion can be stopped?" Hypno asked.

"HUH!? I mean, uh, nothing! Nothing! Nothing at all!" Chikorita said quickly.

"I see, well that's a pity," Hypno said, sighing in disappointment.

"Starting tomorrow, we'll start investigating the distortion of space more thoroughly," Wigglytuff declared.

"HOORAY!" Everyone cheered, glad that they get to do something important for a change and not the same old guild work that they always have to do.

Ali, Chikorita, and Glaceon leave the guild and head back to Sharpedo bluff. There, they confess everything that they have learned from Cresselia to Glaceon.

"I don't think that you two being eliminated would help, stop the distortion of space, besides, if you guys left, it would make everyone sad: Treasure Town, Lapras, The Guild Members, and Me, we would all be very sad if you disappeared," Glaceon said to the duo who smiled weakly at the ice type.

"Thanks Glaceon," Ali said to her and she smiled at him.

"Yeah, you always help us out when we need it," Chikorita added and they did a secret high five thing that was too complicated for Ali to follow and he just decided to go to sleep.

"I think Ali has the right idea here," Glaceon said, giggling at the fire type's sleeping form.

"Yeah, I think that we should hit the hay as well," Chikorita said as they went to their respective beds and quickly fell asleep.

**What do you think? Like it? Love it? Hate it? Tell me in a review. I won't submit the final chapter until I reach 80 reviews for this story. So how about it? Think you can do it? Read and Review.**

**Until next time, Sora532 out.**


	31. Team Charm and the Answers

**Hi guys, you got me to eighty reviews so as promised, I started to write the next chapter of my story. Last Chapter I said that this chapter will be my final one; I think I might need another chapter to wrap this story up so keep reading and review because I'm not done yet.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters!**

Chapter 30

Ali, Chikorita, Glaceon woke up the next morning to a nice day like always, they agreed to go to the guild to see if they had found anyway to find and repair the distortion of space.

"Do you think that anyone would have found anything?" Ali asked as they walked to the guild.

"I personally doubt it because space is a concept that is really hard to understand so I don't think that anyone would have found anything on the first day," Chikorita said as they entered into the guild.

They noticed that there was nobody there and this attracted Team Drive's attention.

"Where is everyone?" Glaceon asked, looking around.

"Could they be at the next level?" Ali asked, looking at the ladder with curiosity written on his face.

"That is a possibility," Chikorita said, turning her attention to where the ladder was standing.

"We won't find out by standing here, let's go!" Glaceon exclaimed as they climbed down the ladder to notice that everyone was surrounding three beautiful Pokémon that were at the guild.

"What's going on over there?" Ali asked, noticing the crowd, admiring them.

"You are amazing, can I have your autograph?" Loudred asked.

"You are awesome," some of them chanted and Team Drive sighed.

"Who are they?" Chikorita said and this caught Chatot's attention.

"Ah Team Drive, you really need to make your presence more well known," Chatot said, turning to look at them.

"Never mind that, did you find anything that could help us learn more about the distortion of space?" Ali asked briskly.

"No, we asked everyone but didn't find anything," Chatot said, disappointment clear in his voice.

"I see, well that's a pity," Glaceon sighed and Chatot turned back to the women.

"I wonder who they are," Ali muttered and this attracted Chatot's attention yet again.

"You really don't know?" Chatot said, looking truly surprised.

"Okay, no we don't," Ali, Chikorita, and Glaceon, admitted in unison.

"I should have known, you haven't been a rescue team for a long time," Chatot sighed.

"So who are they?" Ali asked curiously.

"They are Team Charm, they are one of the best exploration teams that the world has ever seen," Chatot explained.

"Why's that?" Glaceon asked, looking interested.

"They have never failed to find treasures that they set their eyes on and they have achieved Master Rank," Chatot explained while staring at them.

"That's pretty impressive," Chikorita commented as she turned her attention to the exploration team.

"Not only that but they are strong, smart, and beautiful as well, the sheer style of their treasure hunts is what makes them celebrities," Chatot added.

Chatot then proceeded to introduce who was who in the team and the trio managed to catch on pretty quickly and no one noticed a thing.

Ali sweat dropped at all the beauty comments that Chatot made because he found them not to relevant.

"I wonder, why would they be here?" Chatot wondered.

"Do you think that they came to help us?" Glaceon asked.

"I hope so," Ali sighed, "This task is a lot harder than we thought it would be," he added, trying and failing to come up with something that they could use to keep searching.

"Hiya," Wigglytuff said, coming out of his chamber.

"Wigglytuff darling, it has been too long my dear," Lopunny said happily, turning to face him.

Wigglytuff walked up them with his grin still plastered on his face.

"Hey what's up?" he asked happily.

"Wigglytuff sweetie, you haven't changed a bit," Lopunny said as she approached him for a hug and he complied and hugged back.

"Seeing you as a Guildmaster of a high class guild, imagine that, that's amazing," Medicham said, also giving Wigglytuff a hug.

"It has been a long time, Wigglytuff," Gardevoir said, also hugging Wigglytuff.

"Hey Team Charm, long time no see!" Wigglytuff said happily. "Have you been well?" he added, looking at them with his smile still on his face.

"Long time…no see?" Loudred repeated.

"Guildmaster…are you friends with Team Charm?" Sunflora asked.

"Wigglytuff was a real go-getter back in the day?" Medicham explained as she turned to look at all the guild members.

"Back then, no one could beat him, it was awesome!" Lopunny said happily and Wigglytuff laughed.

"Guildmaster, how do you know the beauties of Team Charm?" Chatot asked, looking confused.

"We've met a few times in the past and we've done some exploring together," Wigglytuff explained.

"It's true, through our explorations together, we've become really good friends," Lopunny said, smiling.

"That would make sense," Ali muttered to himself so that no one could hear him.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" Wigglytuff asked, turning to look at them.

"We came to talk to you about two things," Gardevoir said, her voice turning more business-like.

"Okay, what are they?" Wigglytuff asked.

"Do you recall that exploration a long time ago, we had found a mysterious key?" Gardevoir asked and Wigglytuff nodded.

"We think that we have found the place that it should be used," Gardevoir explained.

"That is where?" he asked.

"Aegis Cave, the key fits perfectly, not only that but there is a vast trove of treasure hidden there and we intend to find it," Medicham said, her voice also turning serious.

"A vast of…" Loudred began.

"Treasure?" Corphish finished, looking stunned.

"Wigglytuff darling, that key that we entrusted to you, you still have it, right?" Lopunny asked.

"Key, what key?" Wigglytuff said, looking confused and started laughing.

"Hey! We went through a lot to find that key!" Medicham said angrily, while the other two merely sighed.

"Lopunny, I think it's time for our gift," Gardevoir suggested.

"I hear you," Lopunny said, pulling out a perfect apple and gave it to Wigglytuff.

"A Perfect Apple, for me? Yay, thank you!" he cheered, accepting the apple from her and began playing with it.

"Now about that key," Lopunny said, her voice more business-like again.

"Oh I remember, the one shaped like an Unown, here, let me go check," he said, heading to his chamber to try to find the key.

A few seconds later, a crash was heard and the key was flying out of the room and Team Charm tried and failed to catch it so Ali took the initiative and jumped and caught it in his hand.

"How'd you like that?" Ali said, raising his fist in the air and the others on his team joined in as well.

"Thanks for that," Wigglytuff said, taking the key from Ali but it just flew back into Ali's hand.

"This is awkward," Ali said, noticing the key that was in his hand.

"Yes, that's the key to Aegis cave," Lopunny said, gesturing to the key in Ali's hand.

"Here you go," Ali said, handing over the key to Team Charm.

"Thank you sweetie," Lopunny said, smiling as she turned back to Wigglytuff.

"Wigglytuff, you should join us, it will be just like old times," Gardevoir suggested.

"Yay, Perfect Apple!" Wigglytuff cheered but quickly turned back to discuss they other topic.

"What was that other reason that you came?" Wigglytuff asked.

"We understand that you are trying to figure out space and why one of the Pokémon has a nightmare," Gardevoir said, it was a statement not a question.

"Yes, you are right," Wigglytuff said, nodding.

"We would like to assist you in this endeavor of yours," Medicham said.

"It's always nice to have more help," Wigglytuff said and everyone cheered.

As they turned to leave, Chikorita stopped them.

"Uh excuse me," Chikorita said meekly.

"Yes?" Lopunny said, turning to look them.

"Would it…would it be okay if we went exploring with you?" Chikorita asked and this attracted everyone else's attention as well and soon the whole guild wanted to go.

Team Charm thought about it for a few seconds before deciding, "You are all so adorable, of course you can come," Lopunny said as they key flew into Ali's hand yet again.

"What's with this key?" Ali asked, "It's like it's attracted to me," Ali muttered, handing it back but it keeps flying to his hand.

"I guess you are going to have to come with us," Gardevoir said, leading the trio out of the guild.

"I'm not sure whether I want to do this," Ali said, hesitantly as they led them out of the guild.

"Aw c'mon Ali, we get to go exploring with one of the greatest exploration teams in history and who knows, Aegis cave might have the answers that we seek," Chikorita said thoughtfully.

"I guess I don't really have a choice anyway," Ali sighed as they arrived at the entrance to the cave.

"Take the key and put it there," Gardevoir instructed, pointing to a seemingly random spot in the cave.

"Okay," Ali said as he put the key into the spot and pushed it in and the sealed cave was now open for exploration.

"Thank you, now you can either come with us or head back," Medicham said.

"I'd rather not," Ali said, backing away.

"Why, are you scared?" Glaceon asked.

"Nope, just want to get back to the space distortion business," Ali replied rather impatiently.

"I told you that there is the possibility that the answers we seek might be here," Chikorita said impatiently.

"Okay fine, you win," Ali sighed in defeat and Team Drive went into the cave to find Team Charm and a few guild members already there.

"Oh, hello there," Lopunny said warmly to the trio.

"Hello," Team Drive chimed in.

"We've already asked everyone else of their team name, what's yours?" Lopunny asked, approaching them.

"We're Team Drive," Chikorita said.

"That's a good name," she praised and Ali put his hands behind his head.

"So how do we proceed?" Glaceon asked, turning to Team Charm.

"We honestly have no idea," Gardevoir admitted sadly.

"It says if you have proof then close your eyes," Medicham read and Lopunny did that and nothing happened.

"That's a pity," Ali said, looking disappointed.

"We'll go explore the cave," Medicham said as Team Charm and the guild members left to find some hints of what the statue meant.

"Chikorita, do you think my Dimensional Scream might work here?" Ali asked, looking at the template.

"It might," Chikorita said, also looking at it.

"What's the dimensional scream?" Glaceon asked, looking confused and Chikorita began explain what the dimensional scream was and how it was triggered and a few minutes later, Glaceon caught on and was encouraging Ali to go for it.

"Okay, let's give it a try," Ali said as he touched the template with his hand and he felt dizzy and suddenly he had a vision:

A figure was fighting the Pokémon in the dungeon and gathering up the stones that they dropped and pulled three of them and the stairway appeared.

"I got it," Ali exclaimed once the vision ended.

"What is it?" Glaceon asked.

"I'll tell you as we explore," Ali said, taking a quick glance at the template and led his teammates into the dungeon.

"So Ali, what was it that you saw?" Chikorita asked and Ali recounted the vision that he had before and told them what they needed to do.

"So we have to find the Unown stones and with the right ones, we can proceed?" Glaceon asked and Ali nodded.

"Okay, let's split up because we'll probably have more success," Ali suggested and they scattered into different directions and they gathered some Unown stones and they arrived back at the template to see which ones they had.

"Let's see if it works this time," Ali muttered, closing his eyes and the I C and E stones glowed and revealed the pathway.

They went down it and confronted Regice.

(**A/N: I'm not doing fighting scenes for Regice, Regirock, or Registeel because I found them unnecessary)**

No words were spoken, just combat and Glaceon did really well against this ice type, being an Ice type didn't hurt either. Ali and Chikorita countered with their own respective attacks to beat him.

Regice vanished and a light enveloped Ali and granted the trio the right to proceed.

"Let's keep moving," Chikorita said and they arrived at the next template.

"Nice work," they heard a voice say and they spun around to find that Team Charm was there.

"Um thanks?" Ali said, sweat dropping.

"Well, this race just got interesting," said Lopunny as they left to go explore the next dungeon.

"Let's see what this one says," Ali suggested as he examined the template and saw the letters R O C K inscribed.

Ali rummaged through all the rocks that they had and came across the letters needed so he closed his eyes and the next stairway appeared.

"Okay, let's go," Ali said as they went down the stairway and revealed another Pokémon's chamber.

"I think that's a Regirock," Chikorita said as it threw rocks at them and they dodged at the last second.

"We have to fight," Ali said as they charged into battle.

Like the last fight, no words were spoken; it was just combat. Chikorita did really well in this fight because she had type advantage on her side. Ali was not very lucky this go around because type advantage was against him so he used his Iron Tail along with Glaceon and defeated it as well.

After the fight, Regirock disappeared and a light enveloped Ali and the pathway opened itself to them and allowed them to proceed.

Team Drive made it to the final chamber and found out that this one had S T E E L as the rocks required. They needed an L and another E in order to proceed to the next fight.

With that decision being made, they went to the dungeon and split up to find the stones that they needed.

Unfortunately, that was a lot harder than they expected it to be so they had to pace themselves and after about twenty battles for each stone, they found the ones that they were looking for and so they left the dungeon and noticed the note.

Team Drive,

_If you are reading this then you will know that we have already solved the riddle to this dungeon, this is supposed to be a race you know._

_Best of luck_

_Team Charm._

"Okay," Ali said, looking somewhat confused, since when was this a race?

"Let's get the rocks together and move on the next fight," Chikorita said as Ali closed his eyes and the S T E E and L stones glowed and opened the pathway that would lead to the next fight.

They approached the next Pokémon chamber and saw Registeel standing there and they plunged into battle.

This time, Ali had type advantage on his side because Fire is strong against Steel so Ali moved quickly and dodged Registeel's slow combos and countered with a few of his own rather faster ones that did more damage.

Registeel was defeated and Ali was enveloped in light and the pathway was opened.

"We did it, now let's go!" Ali cheered but noticed three spheres of light a few feet in front of them and they materialized into Team Charm.

"Hey, are you three okay?" Ali asked, running up to them with Chikorita and Glaceon following in hot pursuit.

They grunted in pain as they got to their feet.

"Thanks for the rescue but we'll be okay," Lopunny said, turning to look at Ali.

"If you guys hadn't come to save us, we would probably be sunk right about now," Gardevoir said sadly.

"It's okay," Ali said, taking his friends into his arms side-by-side, one in each arm, Chikorita in one arm and Glaceon in the other.

"Are you still interested in the treasure that lies here?" Chikorita asked as they proceeded to move to the next and final part of the cave.

"Yeah but we won't go after it because you rescued us," Medicham said.

"I'm not interested in the treasure," Ali said as they kept moving.

"Then why did you come here in the first place?" Medicham asked curiously.

"I came because Chikorita and Glaceon wanted to explore this place and remember the second reason that you came to Treasure Town in the first place?" Ali asked and Team Charm nodded.

"I hope to find information regarding that here," Ali said.

"Well if that's the case, let's step on it!" Lopunny cried as both teams picked up the pace and finally made it to the end of the cave.

"Whoa, look at all the statues," Ali said, looking around.

"I bet they guard the treasure that lies within this place," Glaceon said, also looking around.

"They are Hitmonlee, and Bronzong and in the middle is Regigigas," Gardevoir said, examining the statues.

"This is so cool," Chikorita said.

"I wonder how we find the treasure and the answers that we seek," Glaceon muttered and as though to answer her question, a flash of light appeared and a few seconds later, all the Pokémon had come to life!

"I guess that answers that question," Ali said sweat dropping.

"We have to fight," Ali shouted as he got into a stance and lunged into battle.

Bronzong started by using Flash Cannon, Ali noticed this and grabbed the Bronzong and spun around and did damage to the other Pokémon in the arena.

Glaceon was using her Ice Beam on the Bronzong while Medicham quickly followed with one of her fighting type moves.

Gardevoir and Chikorita were also working together to defeat the Hitmonlee by Gardevoir stunning them with confusion and Chikorita would follow up with a series of Magical leaves.

This left Ali and Lopunny to deal with Regigigas.

"Ready?" Lopunny asked, looking at Ali.

"Let's do it," Ali said as he used his Flamethrower to distract Regigigas while Lopunny would attack him and they would switch roles occasionally.

A few minutes later and all the Pokémon were defeated and everyone let out a sigh of relief that they had made it this far without being defeated.

"So where are the answers we seek?" Glaceon asked, looking around.

As though on cue: another flash of light came and went they noticed a huge tablet in front of them.

"Would you like to close your eyes?" Ali said, reading the tablet and immediately closed his eyes and his aura flowed into the ground to reveal the ruins where the treasure was held and a scroll appeared and Ali claimed it.

"That was fun," Lopunny said happily.

"I told you that we'd find something here," Chikorita said smugly to Ali.

"I guess you were right and I was wrong," Ali sighed.

"We found the treasure!" everyone cheered.

"But the credit doesn't go to us this time," Lopunny said, looking rather disappointed.

"Yeah, this time it goes to Team Drive," Gardevoir said, looking at the trio.

"Thanks Team Charm," Ali said and smiled.

"We'd better head back to Treasure Town," Lopunny suggested as they ran back to treasure town.

**Meanwhile in some unknown area:**

"Mwhahahahaha! My plan will soon come to fruition!" the evil voice cackled.

**I think that's enough for this chapter, I don't know when the final one will be up, or which chapter will be the last. Read and Review please!**

**Until next time, Sora532 out.**


	32. The Final Battle and a New Start

**It's been well over a week since I updated this story and I'm hoping that this will be my final chapter and this story in general will get me 85-90 reviews. Please help make this wish of my come true. Anyway, I hope you like what is going to come this chapter and that I don't know if I'll be writing an epilogue in this one, I might or I might not. READ, REVIEW, and vote on the poll that I have set up and tell me what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I'm sure that you guys know by now that I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters.**

Chapter 31

Team Drive was sleeping in their base and Chikorita was still shaken about Azurill's nightmare so she went outside to think and hopefully clear her head.

Ali woke with a start because of a dream he had been having and as he looked around, he noticed that Chikorita wasn't there but Glaceon was so he started looking around for her and decided to look outside where he saw her gazing at the stars.

"Hi there," Ali said as he approached.

"Hey Ali," Chikorita said as he sat next to her.

"What's up?" he asked, lying on his back and gazing at the stars.

"Can't we be allowed to stay? When we fought Dialga there…you kept going even when you knew you would disappear. In that case…maybe we should do that too," Chikorita said as she sighed in defeat.

"Where'd that come from and even if that was true, something seems weird this time around," Ali said as he turned to face her in the eyes.

"Weird, what do you mean by that?" Chikorita asked as they unconsciously moved closer to each other.

"Remember what I told you before I vanished at Temporal Tower?" Ali asked as he put his arm around her and held her close.

"Yeah, you said that you didn't want to do it but you also said that you had to restore balance to time," Chikorita said, recalling the memory with tears in her eyes.

"Exactly, that time, I didn't have a choice, but this time I do," Ali said as he sat up again.

"So basically what you're saying is that there is no telling what could happen if we vanish this time around, but all the same, we still changed history," Chikorita said as the sun rose into the sky and the duo stared with awe until Chikorita kissed Ali on the cheek and that made him blush.

"W-what was that for?" Ali asked, stammering slightly.

"That was a 'thank you' for always being there for me," Chikorita said giggling slightly and blushing as well.

"I see well, no problem," Ali said with a huge smile on his face as he kissed her on the cheek.

"You know, this isn't the first time I saw a sunrise like this," Chikorita said, her expression becoming much more somber.

"Really?" Ali asked and she nodded.

"The first time was with Grovyle," Chikorita explained.

"Back in the Hidden Land…Grovyle entrusted me with his last wish…to look after you no matter what. …I'm so ashamed. Ali! If you aren't giving up, I won't either! There must be another way to fix this, I know now!" Chikorita said with a newfound determination in her eyes.

_So Grovyle wanted her to look after me _Ali thought to himself as he followed Chikorita back to their base to wake up their fellow teammate and learn more about the distortion of space.

Ali, Chikorita, and Glaceon woke up that morning and they racked their brains to hopefully come up with some idea to learn more about the distortion of space and Chikorita had a very strange idea.

"You want to go ask Lapras if she knows anything about it?" Glaceon repeated, staring at the grass type with a confused expression on her face.

"Think about it, she did know about the existence of Temporal Tower and how to get to the Hidden Land, I wouldn't be surprised if she DID know something about all of this," Ali said, crossing his arms as he began to think more about it and the more they thought, the more it made sense so they all agreed to go to the beach to ask.

When they arrived to the beach, they saw Lapras swimming around and enjoying herself in the water.

"Hi you guys," she called as she noticed them approach her.

"Hi Lapras," Chikorita called as she came closer.

"What's going on with you three?" Lapras asked, looking from one to the next.

"We were hoping if you knew anything that could help us find out more about the distortion of space," Ali asked hopefully.

Lapras thought for a second before replying, "I'm sorry but I have no knowledge about the fabrics of space," she said and felt bad that she couldn't be of more assistance.

"I see," Chikorita said, trying and failing to hide her disappointment.

"However," Lapras said and that perked Team Drive's attention.

"What is it?" Glaceon asked curiously.

"I do know of being that embodies space itself," Lapras said.

"Tell us what you know," Chikorita said eagerly and Lapras nodded as she continued her explanation.

"His name is Palkia and he resides in Spacial Rift, and as you may have figured, since time and space are interrelated, Dialga and Palkia are also related as well," Lapras said as Team Drive paid close attention to every word that Lapras was saying so they could hopefully figure it all out and stop the distortion of space.

"Do you know how to get there, can you take Pokémon there, just like you can with the Hidden Land," Ali asked curiously.

"I'm sorry to say that I can't take you there and I do not know where it is," Lapras said, looking disappointed with herself.

"Thanks for the help," Ali said, "I guess we'll have to find it on our own," he said to his teammates as they left the beach to tell the guild the information that they had uncovered with that conversation with Lapras.

"Thank you for telling us this," Chatot said to Team Drive as Chatot told them that they had reached the next rank: Master LV 1 Badge.

"Thanks Chatot," Glaceon said as Ali took the badge and they left the guild and headed back to their base and quickly fell asleep even though they didn't do all that much.

Later that night, the trio felt a massive earthquake shaking them awake and half a second later, a massive burst of light almost blinds them and as the light clears, a massive being taking up the whole room is standing right in front of them!

"I HAVE FOUND YOU AT LAST!" the being roared as they were all surprised that no one in Treasure Town had woken up from all the noise that this Pokémon was making.

"Wh-who are you?" Glaceon asked, looking terrified.

"I AM PALKIA AND I RULE SPACE!" the being replied.

"You're Palkia?!" Ali asked, looking surprised.

"B-b-b-b-b-but," Chikorita stammered but she thought _we've wanted to meet you but this isn't what I had in mind._

"YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE!" Palkia yelled as he enveloped everyone in light and took them away.

A few minutes later they were in a new area.

"Where are we?" Ali asked, looking around.

"YOU ARE IN SPACIAL RIFT, MY DOMAIN, NOW PERISH!" Palkia roared as he took a swing at them and they leapt bag.

They kept this until they were at the edge of the platform.

"We're trapped," Glaceon said hopelessly.

"VANISH!" Palkia shouted as he slashed at them again.

"JUMP!" Ali shouted as he grabbed his friends' paws and jumped and fell into the pit of darkness.

"DRAT, THEY FELL, BUT THERE IS NO ESCAPE FROM ME!" Palkia roared as he was enveloped in light and flew after them.

Chikorita, Glaceon, and Ali landed at the bottom of Spacial Rift and rubbed their aching backs.

"That was a hard a fall," Ali said as he rubbed his back.

"Ow my back," Chikorita moaned.

"Ow my back," Glaceon said, repeating Chikorita's words.

"I'm just glad that we got out of there," Ali said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Careful Ali, you don't want to jinx it, do you?" Glaceon asked, looking around.

"I don't get it, why would Palkia just randomly attack us like that?" Chikorita asked, looking thoroughly confused.

"Unless what Cresselia said was true and that we really need to be eliminated," Ali replied hopelessly.

"All we can do it move forward," Glaceon said, pointing towards the path in front of them.

"You're right, let's go," Ali said as they put on their gear and headed off to hopefully find the truth.

The trio was exploring the depths of the rift and noticed that there were hardly any Pokémon anywhere near them.

"I don't get it, where are the Pokémon, there are usually some in the dungeon that are looking for a fight," Chikorita said, looking confused.

"Oh well, we'd better keep moving, I'd hate to have to face Palkia in battle," Glaceon said as they made it to the deepest part of the rift to find a dead end.

"I guess there really is no way out this time," Ali muttered hopelessly as they saw a blinding flash of light and there stood Palkia.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!" Palkia said.

"AAAAH PALKIA!" the trio screamed in terror.

"WANT ME TO TELL YOU WHY YOU CANNOT ESCAPE? I WILL TELL YOU. YOU MUST VANISH!" Palkia said.

"GLACEON IS COMPLETELY INNOCENT AND THEREFORE HAS TO LEAVE!" He roared as a bright light enveloped her and she tried and failed to resist it and she was sent back to the base.

"YOU TWO MUST PERISH!" Palkia said as they charged into battle.

Palkia started with Earth Power, which knocked the duo into the air and Palkia followed with a Spacial Rend that knocked them to the ground.

Palkia used Aqua Tail and Chikorita blocked it with Reflect and Ali jumped and started to do an air combo of Iron Tails and finished with a vertical ten-eighty degree spin which actually did more damage than any of them thought it would so Ali kept to his air combos while Chikorita drew his attention.

Every now and again, Palkia would hit them with Spacial Rend and they would take a lot of damage and so they healed with an Oran Berry when this happened.

"We can't win," Ali said after ten minutes of fighting and they had barely made a scratch and as they continued to fight.

"Why not?" Chikorita said, panting heavily as Palkia charged up his final attack.

"It's his domain, he can do anything here," Ali said grimly as he launched his attack but at that moment, time stopped.

"I guess we got lucky," Chikorita said, breathing a sigh of relief.

_The nightmare has spread even to Palkia. The darkness has spread again. Would you like to enter Palkia's nightmare? You will learn of the reason that he attacked you._

"What should we do Ali?" Chikorita asked, turning to her partner.

"I think that we should enter the nightmare," Ali said boldly as they fell into a dark portal to end up exactly where they were in the first place.

"Hey Palkia," Chikorita said as he saw them.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE, IN MY DREAMS?" Palkia asked. "NO WAIT WE BATTLED! SO WHY AM I DREAMING?" he asked, looking a little confused.

"You're in a nightmare," Ali said grimly.

"WHAT! WHAT DID YOU SAY!" Palkia asked, looking surprised. "I'M IN A NIGHTMARE?" Palkia said as he began to roar.

"Whoa," Chikorita said, looking startled.

"THIS PROVES IT, BOTH OF YOU SHOULD VANISH HERE AND NOW!" Palkia declared as he roared again.

"Whoa Palkia, w-wait a second, can you answer something for us?" Chikorita requested and Palkia merely nodded.

"Why are you trying to get rid of us?" she asked.

"DON'T ACT LIKE YOU DON'T KNOW, YOU'RE THE REASON SPACE IS BEING DISTORTED! IF IT SPREADS THEN THE DARKNESS WILL GROW AND THE WORLD WILL SINK INTO THE DARKNESS! TO PREVENT IT, YOU BOTH MUST BE ELIMINATED!" Palkia stated firmly and loudly.

"Maybe everything we've done, maybe it was all for nothing," Chikorita said hopelessly but Ali wasn't ready to give up just yet.

"Isn't there some other way? There's gotta be another way, there's gotta be," Ali pleaded.

"You govern space and dimension, don't you Palkia? So why can't you repair the distortion of space yourself?" he asked desperately.

"IT IS TRUE THAT I CAN BEND SPACE TO MY WILL…. BUT …FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, THERE IS A PART OF SPACE THAT I CANNOT CONTROL! WORST STILL IS THAT THE DISTORTION IS AMPLYFYING AND QUICKLY! THIS IS ALL YOUR DOING!" Palkia declared as he said that they had to be eliminated.

"I guess that this is it," Chikorita said sadly.

"Oh Ali, what Cresselia told us was true, I guess we have no choice, maybe we should disappear," Chikorita said hopelessly as she turned back to Palkia.

"I PITY YOU, BUT THIS HAS TO BE DONE!" Palkia said with a little bit of sympathy in his voice as he charged his attack but then a voice appeared.

"Ah, there you are, I've been looking for you," it said and Cresselia entered the dream.

"So the darkness engulfs here too…you two really must eliminated…before we pass the point of no return," she said as she backed them into a wall.

"Cresselia, if we are eliminated…will the world really and truly be saved?" Chikorita asked in a pained voice.

"Yes, it absolutely will," said Cresselia firmly.

"WAIT CRESSELIA. I ATTACKED THEM IN ANGER, BUT NOW THAT I LOOK AT THEM…THEY ARE BUT INNOCENTS. ARE THEY REALLY AND TRULY MALICIOUS?" Palkia asked, turning to look at her.

_She said that about us? _Ali thought, looking surprised.

"Do not be fooled, Palkia. All will be saved if we get rid of them now," Cresselia said with ill-disguised impatience clear in her voice.

_If Palkia is getting suspicious then that means that something is really wrong here! After all, this is all based on Cresselia's claims. We don't know if she's telling the truth or if she's plotting to get rid of us. _Ali thought with a bit of hope.

"Perish now," Cresselia said a she made to attack them.

"Chikorita, something is not right here, Look out!" he shouted as Cresselia got closer and closer to attacking them.

"You are correct, everything here is wrong," a voice said and in a flash of light, Cresselia can't move but the others notice: another Cresselia.

They look at the stunned one to the one that was floating there and back again and Ali was the first to speak.

"I'll ask if no one else will, who are you?" he asked, looking at her with Chikorita standing right next to him.

The new arrival let out a light and lights up the room and the first Cresselia changes into something else.

Ali and Chikorita screamed in unison while Palkia asked, "WHO'S THIS GUY!" as Cresselia attacked him.

"Curse you Cresselia, I would have gotten rid of them too, if weren't for you," the new Pokémon said angrily.

Cresselia ignored him and said, "Ali, Chikorita, and Palkia! This is Darkrai! That Cresselia you met earlier was actually Darkrai! I am the real Cresselia!" She explained and then turned to Darkrai and said, "I thought you'd never show yourself, Darkrai. It is not like you to come out of hiding to dispose of anyone personally."

"You two, behind Cresselia, I would be more than happy to confront you in Dark Crater," he said as Cresselia tried to attack him but at the last minute he vanished into thin air.

"You will never catch me Cresselia, never," Darkrai's voice echoed as it reminded Team Drive about their meeting place in Dark Crater.

Cresselia gets everyone out of the nightmare and teleports Team Drive back to Treasure Town where an anxious Glaceon was already there, waiting for them.

"I was so worried about you two!" she cried as she hugged Ali first and then Chikorita.

"Glaceon, it'll take more than that to take us down," Ali said confidently as Chikorita hugged him.

They go back to the guild where they find Azurill trapped in his nightmare and Cresselia used her powers to free him from the darkness within and he wakes up and then thanks Hypno like crazy.

"It was nothing," he said, looking rather embarrassed.

"You took care of him while he was having the nightmare, I can't thank you enough for that," Marill said to him.

"I have heard of your stories in legend but I didn't think that they were real," Chatot said, gazing at Cresselia.

"Just as I stand as a denizen of light, Darkrai stands as an opposite of me, a denizen of Darkness," she explained as she went into more detail about her powers. How she could dispel darkness with the gentlest light from her body and the darkness would vanish, as would emotional scars.

"That's really cool," Glaceon said, looking impressed.

"Ali, Cresselia, you met my imposter in dreams, didn't you?" she asked and they nodded so she continued. "It was all an elaborate trap to get at you and eliminate your existence," she finished.

"Wouldn't it just be easier to confront them in battle?" Hypno asked.

"I would imagine that he fears them because of the fact that they have saved the world once before by stopping Temporal Tower's collapse. But Darkrai started it in the first place and after he failed there, he went after the distortion of space," she said, finishing her explanation.

"WHAT!?" Everyone shouted in unison

"He always wanted to cover the world in darkness. After that failure, he went to destroy space instead," said Cresselia.

"So he made the space distortions? But-but…what about us?" Chikorita asked

"True. You are distorting it…but it's so small, it's negligible. It won't expand. Nothing Palkia can't fix, anyway. It was blamed on you so you would feel so guilty, he'd have an easy time getting rid of you," Cresselia said calmly.

"Then…then…" Chikorita said, looking teary-eyed.

"We can live, Chikorita! We can live…!" Ali said, breathing a sigh of relief as they embraced once more.

"If either of you went away…we'd all be really lonely. That should be reason enough to live, okay? **Everyone's **life is valuable and has meaning in this world. Everyone's," he said firmly

"Thanks, Wigglytuff…" Chikorita said.

"But right now, Darkrai is doing something so unlike him now … he's inviting Team Drive to come and challenge him…it's definitely a trap," Cresselia said gravely.

"I don't care about any of that, Me, Chikorita, and Glaceon, we're going," Ali declared boldly and he also thought _Besides, if he attacked Temporal Tower in the first place, I have a feeling there's something he's not telling me._

Glaceon was taken aback about her inclusion in the final battle but Ali and Chikorita agreed very willingly that she would be a valuable asset in the final battle.

"I admire your decision and I'll accompany you because I can finish Darkrai once and for all," Cresselia said and Ali nodded.

Everyone wants to go but Cresselia told them that if too many Pokémon come then Darkrai will flee and that they would have to allow it to be the four of them which they allowed to but they did it rather reluctantly.

Cresselia left to wait by Sharpedo Bluff while Team Drive gets their gear together and tells Cresselia that they are ready for the battle.

"Let's go," Cresselia said as she teleported them to Dark Crater.

They arrived there and quickly proceeded deeper into the cavern and proceeded with caution because with Darkrai here, anything could happen for all they knew.

They kept going and fought any enemy Pokémon that were around and were being conservative with their moves; wanting to save those for Darkrai. So they went deeper and deeper and decided to take a break at a clearing.

"Cresselia, is there anything that we should keep in mind when we fight him?" Glaceon asked as she sat down next to Chikorita.

"Just don't fall for his tricks," Cresselia said simply as they got back to their feet or paws and got on the move once more.

They continued exploring but there were fewer Pokémon this time and the quartet was immensely relieved because of what would happen if there were many Pokémon together at once.

They reached the end of cave to find a lava alter there.

"Where's Darkrai?" Glaceon asked, looking around.

"You kept me waiting," he said as he materialized out of nowhere.

"You don't even know us," Ali said irritably.

"Wrong. I know all about you…especially you, Ali. You and Grovyle had an accident while time traveling remember? Had it not occurred to you how odd that was?" Darkrai asked.

"Yeah…all the time! Hey! Are you saying…?" Ali asked suspiciously.

"Yes. **I** did it. I forced my way into the Hidden Land and sabotaged Temporal Tower. I could've ruled over Primal Dialga and that future world of darkness. I normally could've sat back and watched Grovyle and Ali as they scurried around that world looking for Time Gears throughout their pathetic lives. But nooooo…I didn't think they'd actually find a way to travel back in time! So I attacked them in the time tunnel. It should have been enough, especially for Grovyle. But…you protected him, Ali," Darkrai said angrily.

"I…protected him!?" Ali asked, looking completely stunned. _How come I don't remember it…?_ He thought to himself but Darkrai answered his question.

"My attack was for Grovyle, not you. That's how you lost your memory. But it also seems your will to protect him got entangled with the many dimensions during your time travel. That's how you turned into a Charmander. I thought that was sufficient. But…you met with Chikorita and stopped my plans," Darkrai said irritably.

"So that's why you tried to break their will! You brought us here to get rid of us all at once, right?" Cresselia asked as they all got into a battle stance.

"Correct. But that would be such a waste. Ali…Chikorita… Glaceon, Why not join me?" Darkrai suggested with a wicked grin on his face.

"Join you?" Glaceon and Chikorita asked in unison as they looked at each other and nodded. They went over to the other side!

"Chikorita, Glaceon, why?" Ali asked hopelessly.

"The world of Darkness will be wonderful Ali," Chikorita said happily.

"That's not true," Ali retorted as he remembered what he saw when he went to the future as Chikorita's smile vanished and hers and Glaceon's faces had angry snarls on them so they attacked!

Ali dodged Magical Leaf but it hit him and Cresselia stopped the Ice Beam with a psychic attack.

Just before Chikorita fired an Energy Ball, Ali rolled over to her and kissed her full on the lips and that snapped her out of it as she kissed back.

He walked over to Glaceon and hugged her and she also snapped out of it and wrapped her forepaws around Ali's waist and a few seconds later they let go of each other and went back to Cresselia's side as Darkrai was simply furious.

"Is that your final answer?" he asked as they returned to Ali's side.

"Of course, neither Chikorita nor Glaceon would say something like that and a world of darkness, we won't let it happen," Ali said firmly as they got into a battle stance.

Suddenly, they were surrounded by a few other Pokémon; Darkrai's eyes started to glow ominously as they lunged into battle.

A Macargo, an Arbok, a Magmortar, an Aggron, a Mismagius, and a Rhyperior, as well as Darkrai surrounded them.

Ali basically used his combinations with his friends to defeat the other Pokémon before turning his attention to Darkrai.

Ali used his and Chikorita's combination to defeat the Rhyperior and Aggron and weaken Marcargo and Mismagius.

Ali used his and Glaceon's combination to defeat the Magmortar, and finish off the Marcargo.

Ali found out that Cresselia also had a special combo that she could and he wanted to try it so they were back to back against each other and Ali would fire balls of fire energy from his side while Cresselia fired balls of psychic energy so that took care of the remaining enemies.

After a few minutes, Darkrai was alone and Ali charged in slightly and started to use Flamethrower on him repeatedly and the others joined in quickly as Chikorita had discovered a new combo that she wanted to try. Ali finished his air combo when Chikorita called to him to ask to try it.

Chikorita threw Ali in the air and he landed on her leaf and they started to spin with her Energy Ball and his Fire Spin to increase the damage whereas Glaceon and Cresselia were attacking him elsewhere and the combination finished with a strong ground blast and it was really powerful.

A few seconds later, Ali saw that Glaceon and Cresselia had used their available ice attacks and froze him and thus making it easier to hit him and after a few minutes of battle, Darkrai was finally defeated.

"How'd you like that?" Ali cheered as he raised his fist in the air.

Darkrai's eyes flashed and a portal appeared out of nowhere.

"It's a dimensional hole!" Ali cried, realizing what it was a second before it happened.

"MWAHAHAHA…I actually have no idea whether it leads to the future or past, but it doesn't matter. I'll simply plunge the world into darkness at that time. Well how do you like that? I snatched victory from the jaws of defeat! …Of course, for you all, it's the exact opposite!" Darkrai said as he approached the portal but heard a voice.

"REALLY?" it asked as Palkia warped into the room.

Darkrai panicked and quickly went into the dimensional hole.

"NO YOU DON'T!" Palkia shouted as he charged his attacked and hit him with it and the hole turns gray and then shatters into little pieces.

"What will happen to him now?" Glaceon asked, looking at the spot where Darkrai had been a moment before.

"HE'LL LIVE THOUGH I SUSPECT THAT HE MAY HAVE LOST HIS MEMORY, NO MATTER WHERE HE MAY BE NOW!" Palkia said as Cresselia nodded her head in approval.

"Just like with me, huh?" Ali muttered, looking rather amused and Palkia nodded.

"CORRECT, WE HAVE DEALT WITH HIM, I FORESEE NO REASON EVER RETURN HERE EVER AGAIN! FAREWELL!" He shouted as he teleported away.

"I guess that's it," Cresselia said as she teleported Team Drive back to Treasure Town where everyone is cheered for Team Drive's success.

A few days later, they went to the beach and much to their surprise: they met up with Manaphy again.

"Hi Manaphy, long time no see," Glaceon said happily.

"I know, its been too long," he cheered happily as they went back to the base.

"I hatched here, didn't I?" Manaphy asked as he looked around and everyone was surprised at how right he was about that.

"How do you remember that?" Ali asked curiously.

Manaphy explained that all of them go back to the place where they hatched and then asked to join their team.

"Of course you can join, I am still your mother after all," Chikorita said and he hugged her with a passion.

After that, he hugged Glaceon and called her his aunt.

He finally approached Ali and they embraced and shared a father-son moment.

During the greetings, Shaymin popped in and noticed that there was a ton of gratitude around here and suggested that they start an unofficial family.

"If you want to do that, then who's who?" Ali asked folding his arms.

"Ali, gets to be the dad," Glaceon said with an amused smirk on her face.

"Chikorita gets to be mama," Manaphy declared as she hugged him.

"Glaceon is big sister," Shaymin said.

"I'm big brother," Manaphy called, and Shaymin was left to be the youngest sibling in their unofficial family.

"Ali, Chikorita, why don't you just get married and make it official," Glaceon suggested and they both nodded enthusiastically.

The next thing they know, they are at the top of sky peak and they were getting married.

(A/N: Yes, this is possible because Charmander and Chikorita are in the same egg group!)

Everyone in Treasure town was there as well as those from the guild plus there was Celebi, Grovyle, and Dusknoir, whom Dialga allowed a second chance at life so they were there as well.

Shaymin is the flower girl and Manaphy is the best boy.

When Ali and Chikorita are asked that fateful question the answer:

"Of course I do!" they both said in unison as their lips met for a second time in another passionate kiss and everyone whistled or cheered in applause.

**This story was a lot of fun to write. I feel a little sad that I am done with it but now I can turn my attention to my other stories that desperately need my attention. I'm sorry if it seems rushed but it's just my personality so I hope you guys like it. Read and Review!**

**Until my next story update, Sora532 out.**


	33. Special Chapter: Ali's Past

**This is a one-shot about Ali before he went to the past with Grovyle. I felt the brief explanation that Grovyle gave when they met up again was somewhat rushed so I felt the need to expand upon it. Read and tell me what you think about it. I'd like to point out that this takes place a few months after the events of the final chapter of Team Drive: Adventures of Glory and Romance.**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Pokémon or any of its characters.**

Team Drive had successful accomplished another days missions and had gotten twice as much work done because they had two groups in their team Ali, who was now a Charizard, and Meganium in the first group while Glaceon, Shaymin, and Manaphy.

Everyone was sitting around the fire that Ali had started and Shaymin thought of something.

"Papa, what was life like before you met mama? Like when you were a human?" Shaymin asked curiously, looking at the lizard and every else stared at him as well.

"Well as time went on after we formed this family of ours, I've started regaining my memories from before I was a human," Ali explained.

"Cool," Manaphy said eagerly.

"Tell us the story!" Glaceon, Shaymin, and Manaphy cried and Ali and Meganium laughed.

"Okay okay, fine," he said as the laughter died away.

**Flashback (This is basically the rest of the story):**

_Where am I? What's happening to me? _a young boy thought as he crashed into an unknown area and fell unconscious.

A Treecko was dashing from tree to tree when he heard a crash.

"What's that?" he asked himself.

He didn't know what to do; should he see what that crash was all about or should he avoid it and keep going.

Since he wasn't going anywhere in particular, he decided to go check it out.

When he got there, he already saw his best friend Celebi floating there.

"Celebi, what happened?" Treecko asked as he approached the blankets.

"We've found someone," she replied and she revealed a little boy about four or five years old. He looked really beaten up and Treecko suggested that they go back to his house so they could heal him.

The two grass types managed to get back in record time and Celebi began the healing process when Treecko's parents came into the room.

"What's going on in here?" Treecko's father whose name was Leon, looking at his soon intently.

"I found a young boy and he looked beaten up so I had to bring him here," Treecko explained and both parents' eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"Are you sure you want to trust this _human_?" his mother asked whose name was Lily, trying to hide the disdain from her voice but Treecko caught it all the same and sighed in disappointment.

"Yes, I do, I don't have anything to lose, this world is so depressing and in times like this, we need friendship to get us through it," said Treecko wisely and this took both parents by surprise.

Treecko's father made to open his mouth but at that moment, Celebi came into the room and told him that the boy was awake.

"C'mon, if you don't trust me, ask him anything and he'll answer," Treecko muttered to his parents who followed him into the room, still suspicious of him.

When they got there, they saw the young boy play with Celebi and they were both laughing and having a good time.

"What's your name?" he asked, grinning from ear to ear.

"I'm Celebi, what's your name?" Celebi replied, she always enjoyed being with younger beings.

"Ummm…I can't remember, I'm not sure if I have a name," he replied sadly.

"Well, why don't we give you a new name?" Treecko suggested and his eyes lit up brightly and he looked eager to have a new name.

"What should we call him," Treecko's mother asked.

"Um…how about Ali?" Treecko asked the boy who bounced up and down so excitedly and he looked like he might wet himself and sang, "Ali, Ali, Ali! I love it!" he shouted happily as he hugged them both and Treecko smiled, he finally had someone who didn't treat him like dirt.

"I'm glad you like it, now let's go out and play," said Treecko happily and Ali and Celebi cheered in agreement and followed him out the door with the parents watching with smiles on their faces.

"Maybe we were wrong about Ali, he seems to be a nice enough boy," Lily said to Leon who shrugged but was still not entirely convinced.

"Maybe, or maybe he's pretending," said Leon while Lily sighed in disappointment. She personally thought Ali was quite likable and had her trust.

"But what happened to his parents?" the female Sceptile asked and her spouse shrugged while she massaged her temples.

"What game should we play?" Ali asked as he followed Celebi and Treecko through the woods.

"Tag, you're it," Treecko sang as he tagged Ali and ran off so Ali laughed and chased after his new friends.

"I got you!" Ali sang as he managed to touch Celebi who laughed and chased after him until she spotted Treecko hiding in the trees and she smirked before flying after him and tagging him.

They all ended up laughing from their game of Tag and sat down to take a break.

"What should we do now?" Ali asked eagerly, bouncing on his heels while Celebi and Treecko smiled widely, they had never had anyone who had lasted longer than a game of tag before.

"Why don't we just explore the woods," said Celebi as she made to float away but Treecko stopped her and pointed out something odd.

"Ali, come here," Celebi called gently but before he could move, he sensed something behind him and he turned to see a black Pokémon that was floating was within grabbing range of him.

"Dusclops, what are you doing here?" Treecko asked angrily as he and Celebi ran towards their new friend.

"I have to take him away," he replied coldly as he grabbed the little boy and vanished with him in tow.

"No way," said Treecko as he fell to the ground and pounded it with his front paw while Celebi offered him a little bit of comfort for it was the best she could do.

"We've got to save him," Treecko shouted but realized that he had no idea where they'd be keeping him so he sighed in defeat and he and Celebi went home.

"And stay in there," Dusclops grunted as he shoved Ali into a cell full of other people that looked just like him.

"Ali?" two voices asked uncertainly and his eyes landed on a man and a women and his heart immediately confirmed them to be his parents so ran into their arms and started sobbing and they held him tightly.

"I can't believe I'd ever find you! I thought I'd never see you again!" Ali's mother wailed as she caressed his small body in her arms.

Years had passed, eight years to be precise and Treecko, now and Grovyle, and Celebi had failed to find him. They had been searching for possible places that they would find him but of course, they knew very little about Dusclops and what he does that they weren't going to be able to find him that easily.

"We've looked everywhere! The caves, lakes, forests! Everywhere!" Grovyle snapped as he sat down after another failed exploration.

"I know, let's just call it a day and we'll try again in the morning," said Celebi encouragingly and Grovyle sighed but nodded in agreement as they sat lied down and immediately fell asleep from exhaustion.

_I won't give up until we find you, Ali _Grovyle thought as sleep slowly overtook him.

Ali had been through some training with all the other humans in his cell and they told him of their research; of how they had discovered a way to look into the future and the past by touching something. Something they had called the Dimensional Scream.

"So tell me again how it works?" Ali asked, folding his arms as the researchers in his cell picked up a rock and handed it to him.

Ali caressed the rock in his hand and felt a dizzy sensation overtake him. He felt awful and began clutching his head and he began seeing something.

**Vision:**

_Ali saw something slashing at the bars of the cell. He wasn't sure why, but the vision was emphasizing on certain points on the bars and watched as they shattered into tiny pieces and the mysterious being quickly fled._

**End of Vision**

"Oh my," Ali breathed as he replaced the rock on the ground and everyone watched him eagerly.

"Did you see something?" one of the researchers asked and Ali nodded, causing everyone to jump with joy.

"What did you see?" Ali's mother asked softly and he asked everyone to gather around and he told the group that he had discovered a way to escape this awful prison cell and they all jumped for joy when they realized that they could get out of this awful prison.

"I will only tell you on one condition," said Ali and everyone deflated a little before they asked what it was.

"Don't harm any of the Pokémon out there, because I made some friends among them and I don't want to get them hurt," Ali replied.

"We can't guarantee that, Ali," his father replied gently.

"Well can you promise me that you'll try to avoid hurting innocent bystanders?" Ali pleaded and everyone exchanged a look of sadness before nodding in agreement to Ali's request.

"Okay, here's what we have to do," said Ali as they all huddled and he relayed the plan that he had in mind and they all stared at him in shock but seeing as they had no other way of getting out; they attacked the points that Ali had pointed out and destroyed the door keeping them in and they escaped by the truckload.

"Come on, let's go!" Ali screamed as he led the way out of the dungeon.

"Not so fast," said a voice in a clear tone and they turned to see Dusclops and his Sableye minions.

"How did you find us?" Ali demanded while subtly moving backwards towards the exit.

"It was actually quite easy, we've had alarms set up everywhere to inform of us of any escape and it was so easy to track you down," Dusclops laughed as his minions began attacking the prisoners.

"Ali, remember this, we may not always be with you physically but we'll always be apart of your heart," said Ali's father as he pressed something into his hand and he saw that it was yellow star charm. He hugged his parents and they separated as they tried to fend off the Sableye.

"Ali!" he heard voices shriek and the last thing he saw was that his parents were held hostage before he was knocked out and dragged away.

A few hours later, Ali found himself behind his parents and saw that they were being brutally tortured.

"Why do you want us gone so badly!" Ali shouted as his hands balled into fists.

"You will destroy what we have worked for," answered Dusclops as he finished off his parents get tortured mercilessly.

"What do you mean?" Ali shouted angrily as he watched a Sableye finish off his mother and his heart was filled with rage.

"Your ability, it will lead us to ruin, you must be eliminated," he said coldly.

"I'll do it, just let my parents go!" Ali shrieked as Dusclops ended the torture on his parents and told them to get out.

"We won't leave our son," Ali's mother roared.

"He's buying you some time to get out of here, I suggest you take it," he said but they shook heads determinedly.

"No, if you want to kill Ali, you kill us too," Ali's parents said in unison and Ali felt tears well up in his eyes; his parents really did care about him and he made a vow that he would never forget them. Not now, not ever.

"Fine then, the better for us," said Dusclops as he tied them up and ordered them to start attacking but before they could get very far, they heard a disturbance and they saw Grovyle and Celebi knocking out the Sableye guards and Dusclops was temporarily shocked and Grovyle fired an Energy Ball, which stunned Dusclops long enough for them to get to Ali.

"Grovyle, Celebi! You found me!" Ali cried joyously as they did a little dance together while laughing.

"Ali, you need to get going," Ali's parents shouted in unison.

"No! I'm taking you with me!" Ali shouted as he grabbed their hands and they all fled the dungeon that they had been confined to for the past few years.

Just as they made it outside, they heard a pair of shrieks and he saw the Sableye and struck down his parents.

"Ali, we need to get you out of here!" Grovyle shouted as Ali made to turn back and get revenge but before he could, Celebi had managed to get a firm hold on him and teleported them both back to their clearing.

"Celebi, Grovyle, thanks for saving me," said Ali, giving them a tearful smile and they embraced him, trying to make him feel better and Ali gave them his thanks for trying to rescue his parents too.

"Ali, I know how we avenge them," said Grovyle suddenly and both he and Celebi encouraged him to continue.

"Well, you know how this place is so depressing and there's little to no light here?" asked Grovyle and they both nodded.

"Why don't we change it? Let's get everyone out of this depressing place," said Grovyle and they both nodded in agreement.

"Do you have a plan?" Ali asked.

"As a matter of fact, I do," answered Grovyle.

"What is it?" Celebi asked curiously.

"We find the Time Gears and put them back in Temporal Tower," Grovyle replied while Ali and Celebi stared in surprise.

"Well how do we find the Time Gears and then put them into Temporal Tower?" Ali asked.

"That's what we're going to do, find them here and then Celebi will send us to the past and we'll already know where we need to go," said Grovyle.

"We shall start in the morning," said Celebi.

It took them two years to track down places that had potential time gears hidden though the revelation of Ali's Dimensional Scream made the search significantly easier than before.

"Do we have all the information that we need," Celebi asked as she watched them record where the Final Time Gear was located and the other two nodded.

"Let's go to the Passage of Time," said Celebi and she flew off while the other two followed her at a slower pace.

After a few minutes of navigating through the dungeon, they finally reached the clearing and they saw the portal.

"C'mon, get in quick before someone tries to stop us," said Celebi briskly and Ali and Grovyle leapt into the portal but what they did not realize was that there was a dark force that had managed to get in as well.

"This is it, we're going to change the future for the better," said Ali as they looked ahead but heard an explosion.

They saw Darkrai floating there, launching another attack, which Ali forced Grovyle out of the way.

"You won't change the future!" Darkrai roared.

"Try to stop us!" Ali taunted as he dodged another one of Darkrai's attacks.

"Sorry, try again!"

Darkrai growled in frustration and decided to switch targets and fired an attack at Grovyle, which would have finished him if Ali hadn't taken the blow and now, Ali was groaning and they reached the past while Darkrai vanished.

"Ali! Hold on a little bit longer!" Grovyle shouted.

"It's too strong, I'm losing my grip!" Ali cried as they lost their grip on each other and flew away.

"ALI!" yelled Grovyle.

"GROVYLE!" Ali shouted as they flew further apart before they both lost consciousness.

Ali landed on a beach, completely unconscious. He wasn't sure how long he had been there or if he was truly there but after some encouragement, he opened his eyes and saw a pair of kind red eyes staring back at him.

"Hi there, who are you?" she asked.

"Umm…I can't remember," Ali replied and then realized that he had lost his memories and began to panic. That and the fact that he was now a Pokémon did not make the situation any easier.

Ali decided to get to know the resident Chikorita and they formed an exploration team and hoped to find new things and make all sorts of discoveries.

**End of Flashback**

"And that is how I met your mother," Ali smiled at the awe on everyone's faces, even Meganium's for she had never heard his story from before he became a Pokémon.

"I will always love you," Meganium whispered as she kissed Ali who smiled and kissed her back.

**This is my take on Ali's back-story before PMD2. I hope you like and tell me your thoughts in a review.**


End file.
